INDO-CHINA BORDER ROW
NEIGHBOURS ACCUSE EACH OTHER OF ‘INTIMIDATION AND GUNSHOT THREAT’
CHINA and India accused each other of firing shots first across a flashpoint Himalayan border, intensifying a months-long standoff between the neighbours that has already claimed at least 20 lives.
China said on Tuesday (8) its soldiers took “countermeasures” after Indian soldiers opened fire in a contested mountainous region in Ladakh.
India was guilty of a “severe military provocation” on Monday (7) after its soldiers crossed the Line of Actual Control in the western border region of Ladakh and “opened fire”, according to China’s Defence Ministry.
New Delhi was swift to give its own account, accusing Chinese border forces of “blatantly violating agreements” and firing “a few rounds in the air” to intimidate their Indian rivals.
On Monday night, troops of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) attempted to close in on a forward Indian position at the Line of Actual Control (LAC), or the de factor border, in the Ladakh sector, the Indian army said in a statement.
“And when dissuaded by own (Indian troops), PLA troops fired a few rounds in the air in an attempt to intimidate own troops,” the army said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that the Indian side acted with restraint. “At no stage has the Indian Army transgressed across the LAC or resorted to use of any aggressive means, including firing,” it said.
But China said the Indians had breached the informal border through the southern bank of the Pangong Tso lake, where tension has been rising for more than a week.
“The Indian troops brazenly made gunshot threat to the patrolling Chinese border guards who came forwards for negotiations, and the Chinese border guards were forced to take countermeasures to stabilise the situation,” said Zhang Shuili, a representative of the PLA’s western theater command.
China’s foreign ministry said Indian troops had illegally crossed the LAC and were the first to fire shots. “This is a serious military provocation,” spokesman Zhao Lijian told a daily news conference in Beijing on Tuesday.“We request the Indian side to immediately stop dangerous actions...and strictly investigate and punish personnel who fired shots to ensure that similar incidents do not occur,” the PLA’s Zhang said about Monday’s incident.
It is first confirmed shooting across the contested frontier for decades, where skittish border forces by convention do not use guns to avoid escalations of violence in remote terrain.
The relationship between the neighbours has plunged following a June clash in the contested region in which 20 Indian troops were killed.
Tens of thousands of troops from both sides have been deployed to the disputed Himalayan border, which sits at an altitude of more than 13,500 feet.
The countries fought a brief border war in 1962, but officially no shots have been fired in the area since 1975 when four Indian troops were killed in an ambush.
Because the frontier has never been properly demarcated and the high-altitude terrain is often disorientating, the practice for decades was for neither side to use weapons.
Detailed protocols set out procedures for peaceful disengagement if patrols strayed into areas that the other side believed were their territory.
But a serious clash in the Ladakh region on June 15 – fought with fists and mediaeval-style weapons such as clubs studded with nails – left 20 Indian troops dead.
China has also acknowledged suffering casualties but haven’t revealed any figures.
Since then, reinforcements have ranged on either side of the border.
India’s military has also reportedly changed its rules of engagement, allowing troops to carry guns.
Defence ministers from both countries met in Moscow last week, but statements released later suggest reconciliation remains distant.
Earlier this week, an Indian minister said Delhi had alerted China to allegations five men had been abducted by the People’s Liberation Army close to the disputed border. (Agencies)