China has claimed Indian soldiers crossed their Himalayan border and opened fire, forcing it to take “corresponding countermeasures” in the latest incident on the disputed border.
The relationship between the nuclear-armed neighbours has deteriorated since a clash in the Ladakh region on 15 June in which 20 Indian troops were killed.
On Tuesday, Beijing’s defence ministry accused India of “severe military provocation”, saying soldiers crossed the Line of Actual Control in the western border region on Monday and “opened fire to threaten the Chinese border defence patrol officers”.
“The Chinese border defence troops were forced to take corresponding countermeasures to stabilise the terrain situation,” said Zhang Shuili, a spokesperson for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
Zhang said India had violated agreements reached by the two countries and warned their actions could “easily cause misunderstandings and misjudgments”.
He called for India to withdraw the troops who it said crossed the border and investigate. There was no word of casualties on either side.
India has not yet responded to China’s claims.
China said the incident happened on the southern coast of Pangong lake in an area known in Chinese as Shenpaoshan. On the Indian side, the area is known as Chushul where the two countries’ local military commanders have held several rounds of talks to defuse the standoff.
Both sides have sent tens of thousands of troops to the disputed Himalayan border, which sits at an altitude of more than 4,000 metres (13,500ft).
Their troops have had a number of showdowns since a clash in the Ladakh region on 15 June in which 20 Indian troops died. China has also acknowledged suffering casualties but has not given figures.
The dispute has also widened into the tech sector, with India banning more than 100 Chinese apps.
Defence ministers from both countries talked in Moscow on the sidelines of an international meeting last week – with both sides later releasing rival statements accusing each other of inflaming the showdown.
And earlier this week an Indian minister said Delhi had alerted China to allegations five men had been abducted by the People’s Liberation Army close to the disputed border.
With Agence France-Presse and Associated Press
source https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/08/china-india-border-soldiers-pangong-lake
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