Indian and Chinese troops clashed again last week at the Himalayan border, with both sides sustaining injuries. The media reported Monday (Jan. 25), citing Indian security officials, that the incident occurred on the evening of Jan. 20. At least 18 Chinese soldiers attempted to cross the border into India’s northern Sikkim state of Naku La, a territory claimed by India, but were stopped by Indian soldiers, leading to clashes with sticks and stones.
Indian security officials said soldiers on both sides were carrying guns but did not open fire. A dozen Indian soldiers and at least eight Chinese soldiers suffered minor injuries, according to Indian officials. The officials asked to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the issue, the Associated Press reported. The Indian military described the clash as a “minor standoff” and said “local commanders have resolved the conflict in accordance with established protocols.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a press conference Monday that he had no information to provide on the incident, but urged India to “refrain from any unilateral action that could further complicate or exacerbate tensions along the border,” according to media reports including the Associated Press and Reuters.
The Hindustan Times quoted an Indian military official as saying that the attempt by Chinese soldiers to enter Indian territory was a violation of understandings reached in several rounds of military and diplomatic talks over the past few months. India and China held their eighth round of military chief-level consultations on Nov. 6, after which India said in a statement that both sides agreed to ensure restraint and “avoid misunderstandings and miscalculations” between the two countries’ frontline forces.
A Hindustan Times report Monday cited experts as saying that the latest moves by Chinese troops in Sikkim’s Naku La are part of a larger effort to both test India’s defenses and open up a new front amid a stalemate in the Ladakh region along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
Observers have noted that China’s deliberations on the draft Marine Police Act from Jan. 20 to 22; followed by sending more than 10 military aircraft to intrude into Taiwan‘s airspace on two consecutive days on Jan. 23 and 24, plus a standoff with Indian soldiers in Naku La on Jan. 20, are supposed to be China’s signals to the new U.S. administration of Joe Biden to test the new U.S. administration’s tolerance of China’s aggressive actions.
The news of the latest India-China standoff comes a day after the two countries held their ninth round of military chief-level talks in the border region Sunday. It was not immediately clear whether the talks reached some sort of consensus, but Zhao Lijian said at a press conference Monday that “both sides will release the news as soon as possible as agreed.
Nakula, which links India’s Sikkim province with China’s Tibetan region, was the scene of an unarmed fight between Chinese and Indian soldiers on the Sikkim border in May last year, and another clash between the two sides in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh in June, in which both sides attacked each other with sticks in addition to fighting with bare hands.
India and China, which had a border war in 1962, accused each other of provoking the conflict and stationed tens of thousands of additional troops in the border area.
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