India-China Border Tensions: What We Know
Source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/india-china-himalaya-border-conflict-11592329619
Monthslong tensions between China and India flared again in recent days as the two sides exchanged claims the other’s troops crossed into their territory.
On Tuesday, the two sides traded accusations that the other fired warning shots in violation of agreements to avoid using weapons in disputed areas. Those would be the first shots by soldiers fired in anger along the disputed border in decades, though both sides denied firing any rounds.
While the troop movements, including what India described as an effort to block Chinese troops from taking control of a strategic high-altitude peak, didn’t result in any injuries this time, the confrontation between the two countries did erupt into a deadly clash in June that left 20 Indian soldiers and an undetermined number of Chinese soldiers dead.
India and China have been negotiating since then over ways to calm the border.
What caused the exchange of accusations?
India said its troops acted on Aug. 29 to stop Chinese troops from crossing into territory India considers to be on its side of the disputed border and taking control of a strategic area along a lake in the Himalaya mountains. Indian troops from a special covert team scrambled ahead of a group of Chinese soldiers to control several crucial Himalayan heights on the southern bank of the lake, placing Indian forces in a strategically advantageous position to observe Chinese activities along the north bank of Pangong Lake, according to Indian officials.
China countered that it was Indian troops that crossed illegally beyond what it considers its side of what is known as the line of actual control, the de facto dividing line between the two countries since they fought a war in 1962.
What happened in June?
What precisely happened remains unclear. The Indian government said that 20 of its troops died in a clash in an area known as the Galwan Valley and that casualties resulted on both sides. The Chinese government didn’t comment on casualties for either side, confirming only that a clash took place after Indian soldiers crossed into an area it considers under Chinese control.
Why are India and China fighting?
The two countries fought a war in 1962, a little more than a decade after their births—India in 1947 and the People’s Republic of China in 1949—over the delineation of their borders. China dominated the short but intense war, focused on the eastern stretch of boundary between the countries. But the war didn’t settle the matter, and much of the 2,000-mile border remains in dispute.
Where exactly did the June clash take place?
The confrontation broke out in the Galwan Valley, a strategic part of the disputed border zone that the two countries refer to as the Line of Actual Control.
In the eastern part, India controls the area as its Arunachal Pradesh state, which lies south of a demarcation line the British colonial government crafted with Tibet before the People’s Republic of China came into existence. China doesn’t recognize that demarcation, known as the McMahon Line, because it doesn’t recognize the legitimacy of the Tibetan government that signed the agreement. It considers the area part of China.
Along the western part of the border, the two sides patrol parts of the Line of Actual Control, where they have been confronting each other with greater frequency in recent years.
When is the last time someone was killed before that?
While skirmishes, fistfights and rock throwing have resulted from patrols from the two sides meeting in disputed areas, lethal clashes have been rare. Four Indian soldiers were killed in 1975 in one of the worst of these.
What prompted the recent escalation?
India has built infrastructure, such as roads and arms installations, in recent years on its side of the disputed areas, attempting to catch up with earlier Chinese efforts to do the same. The two sides went through a tense standoff in 2017 in an area disputed between Bhutan, an Indian ally, and China near a strategic point on the Indian-Chinese border.
What exactly has triggered the recent tensions remains somewhat unclear. Chinese troops have moved more frequently into areas of dispute in some parts of the border, with Indian troops seeking to counter their moves resulting in at least one physical brawl. The two militaries have held weeks of talks, and diplomatic efforts have also continued, to try to de-escalate the situation.
What is the danger of this turning into a broader conflict?
The accusations could ratchet-up diplomatic and military tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.
What are India’s and China’s stances?
Each side is blaming the other for having troops in areas they were supposed to avoid. They both have said they have a right to defend their territory and people, but stressed that they are continuing a dialogue to try to lower tensions and avoid any escalation or repeat incidents.Anti-China protests spread in India after the June incident as people vented their anger. Mourners gathered across various towns and cities in India to pay respects to the soldiers whose bodies were brought back home for last rites. Protesters called for a boycott of Chinese goods in some parts of the country, even as police tried to limit large gatherings to slow the surge in coronavirus cases.
Beyond a few official statements, reaction in China has been relatively muted, partly because local media hasn’t prominently featured the Himalayan confrontation in its coverage. Some Chinese posted nationalistic responses on the microblogging platform Weibo, praising the country’s troops and making anti-India comments.
Photo: Chinese paramilitary police officers patrolled outside the Indian embassy in Beijing in June. - PHOTO: GREG BAKER/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
