India-China border tension escalated after Delhi said that it had lost a Colonel and two soldiers at the Galwan Valley in Ladakh, Beijing on June 16, accused India of “crossing the border” and “attacking Chinese personnel.” This is the first incident in the last 45 years that indicated massive escalation in the five-week border row.
China also urged India to “strictly restrain its frontline troops from crossing the border or taking any unilateral action that may complicate the border situation.”
Both the sides suffered casualties as per the statement given by senior Government official to NDTV. The editor-in-chief of Chinese state-run newspaper Global Times through his tweet confirmed that the Chinese military has also suffered casualties.
Based on what I know, Chinese side also suffered casualties in the Galwan Valley physical clash. I want to tell the Indian side, don’t be arrogant and misread China’s restraint as being weak. China doesn’t want to have a clash with India, but we don’t fear it.
— Hu Xijin 胡锡进 (@HuXijin_GT) June 16, 2020
Military commander of both countries, Major General Abhijit Bapat, commander of the Karu-based HQs 3 Infantry Division and his Chinese counterpart are meeting now at the location to defuse tensions.
India-China agreed to resolve the bilateral issues through dialogue to ease the border tension and maintain peace and tranquillity in border areas reports, the Global Times.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian told reporters in Beijing, Indian troops crossed the border twice on Monday night, “provoking and attacking Chinese personnel, resulting in a serious physical confrontation between border forces on the two sides”. Beijing has lodged “strong protests and solemn representations” to Delhi, he said.
The army said that the incident took place at a time the de-escalation process was “underway in the Galwan valley.”
In Delhi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh along with Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat and the three service chiefs reviewed the current operational situation after the clas at the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
Last week, China said it had reached a “positive consensus” with India over settling tensions that had built up in recent weeks over five different places on the border in Ladakh and Sikkim.
The massive escalation of hostilities comes after high-level talks between military officers of various ranking from both sides. As per the reports of last week both armies had thinned out forces; however, experts warned that soldiers, tanks and other armoured carriers remained heavily deployed in the high-altitude region.
Indian sources have also said that China has advanced into new territory at the strategically vital Pangong Lake.
As per a senior military officer, it is the first incident at the LAC involving the casualty of an Indian soldier in a fierce clash with the Chinese Army since 1975. In that incident, four Indian soldiers were killed in an ambush at Tulung La in Arunachal Pradesh along the de-facto border between the two countries.
Official stated that there was no firing between the two sides, and the casualties were the result of a fistfight and stone-pelting among the two forces reports PTI.
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