China-India tensions: Neighbors engage in blame game over fresh border escalation

Tensions between China and India appear to have escalated anew with the two sides accusing each other of committing border aggression. 

Beijing has said that Indian troops engaged in “severe military provocation” by crossing a disputed border and firing warning shots, while New Delhi refuted any such incident, and instead accused China of conducting aggressive maneuvers.

China’s Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that Indian troops moved across the so-called Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the tense western Himalayan border region on Monday and “opened fire to threaten the Chinese border defense patrol officers.”

“The Chinese border defense troops were forced to take corresponding countermeasures to stabilize the terrain situation,” said Zhang Shuili, the spokesman for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA)’s Western Theater Command.

Zhang said India had violated bilateral agreements and cautioned that such actions could “easily cause misunderstandings and misjudgments,” calling on New Delhi to pull its troops out of the area and investigate those who opened fire.

Also on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry said Indian troops had illegally crossed a line of control on the two countries' common border and fired warning shots.

India rejects Chinese accusation

The Indian Defense Ministry, however, rejected the PLA’s accusation in the latest border standoff, insisting that its forces had not resorted to any aggressive actions while reiterating commitment to safeguarding their national sovereignty.

China continues to undertake “provocative activities” to escalate tensions, the Indian ministry alleged in a Monday statement cited by Sputnik News.

“India… is committed to disengagement and de-escalating the situation on the LAC, China continues to undertake provocative activities to escalate. At no stage has the Indian Army transgressed across the LAC or resorted to use of any aggressive means, including firing,” said the statement.

It accused Chinese troops of attempting to close in on “one of our forward positions along the LAC” on Monday, saying that the Indian forces had thwarted the alleged attempt.

The relationship between the two nuclear-armed neighbors has deteriorated since a clash in the Ladakh region on June 15 in which 20 Indian troops were killed.

The latest incident follows the latest talks between India’s Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and his Chinese counterpart, General Wei Fenghe, on the sidelines of an international meeting in the Russian capital of Moscow on Friday.

China, India defense chiefs agree to resolve border tensions

The defense ministers of India and China have met in Moscow to resolve heightening tensions between the two giant neighbors.

The two sides released rival statements after those talks, each accusing the other of being responsible for the June 15 showdown.

India asks China about missing citizens at border

On Monday, the Indian Army announced that it had asked the Chinese military if five Indian civilians who allegedly went missing in an eastern border state days ago were in Chinese custody.

The five individuals were from the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, a strategically important region also claimed by China, which calls it South Tibet, and Indian military authorities said they first informed the PLA about them on Saturday.

“We spoke with them on the hotline and told them that it’s suspected that some people have crossed across to your side and we will be grateful if you could hand them over back, as per what we do normally,” Indian Defense Ministry spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Harsh Wardhan Pande said.

“There is no earmarked line going through the forest or the mountains, so they keep moving here and there,” Pande said. “It’s a very normal thing.”

The spokesman said the Indian Army had not yet heard back from the PLA. 

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said at a daily briefing that he was not aware of the situation.

Meanwhile, police in Arunachal Pradesh were cited by the local press as saying that they were investigating claims made in social media by a purported relative of one of the missing men that the PLA had “kidnapped” the five.

India and China went to war over Arunachal Pradesh in 1962, with Chinese troops temporarily capturing part of the Himalayan territory. Both sides have dispatched tens of thousands of troops to the disputed border area, which sits at an altitude of more than 4,000 meters.

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