Indian and Chinese troops clashed in the northeast Indian border state of Arunachal Pradesh last week, India’s Defense Minister Rajnath Singh told Parliament, officially confirming the first such encounter between the neighbors in about two years.
(Bloomberg) — Indian and Chinese troops clashed in the northeast Indian border state of Arunachal Pradesh last week, India’s Defense Minister Rajnath Singh told Parliament, officially confirming the first such encounter between the neighbors in about two years.
Troops from both sides “exchanged blows” on Dec. 9 after hundreds of Chinese soldiers transgressed into India’s side of the boundary, Singh said Tuesday. India has raised the matter diplomatically with Beijing and military commanders from both sides have discussed it.
Singh gave no other details on the nature of the fighting in the Indian-administered area of Yangtze in Arunachal Pradesh. Indian officials, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue, said nearly two dozen Indian troops were injured in the clash by Chinese soldiers armed with clubs. They added that Chinese soldiers were also injured.
The border between the two countries is “generally stable,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Tuesday at a regular press briefing in Beijing, while declining to comment on specifics. The two sides had “smooth communication on boundary-related issues through diplomatic and military channels,” he added.
Senior Colonel Long Shaohua, a spokesperson for the Western theater of the People’s Liberation Army, said in a statement that Chinese troops were conducting a routine patrol on their side of the frontier on Friday when they encountered “illegal obstruction” from Indian troops who crossed the line.
China tackled the situation in a “professional, standard and forceful” manner, Long said, adding that troops have since disengaged and Beijing demands New Delhi “strictly regulate its frontline troops” to safeguard border peace.
Tensions along the nations’ disputed border have simmered since the June 2020 clash — the worst in more than 40 years — left at least 20 Indian and at least four Chinese soldiers dead. That fighting was centered around the Himalayan region of Ladakh, along their disputed 3,488-kilometer (2,170-mile) border known as the Line of Actual Control.
Arunachal Pradesh, the scene of last Friday’s violence, was where much of the 1962 India-China war played out. The Yangtze area is one of three places along the frontier claimed by both countries.
The clash comes as the two sides have made significant progress to diffuse tensions, with some 16 rounds of talks between military commanders on both sides having taken place. The two sides have moved their troops back from some locations where the 2020 skirmishes took place.
–With assistance from Philip Glamann and Jing Li.
(Updates with comments from Chinese military)
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