India takes camp from China after ‘provocative’ border activity

INDIAN troops have captured an important Chinese military post in the disputed border region of Ladakh in a fresh eruption of violence between the two Asian superpowers in the area, which senior sources warned represented a “new front”.

The Indian soldiers occupied the camp after fighting off an attempt by China to occupy further Indian territory in the region.

Tensions have been high since Chinese troops annexed 60sq km of Indian territory in Ladakh in June, but both sides warned yesterday of “provocation” by the other country.

In the latest clash, hand-to-hand combat broke out on Saturday evening after around 500 People’s Liberation Army troops tried to cross into a narrow valley near the village of Chushul.

A senior Indian police source told The Daily Telegraph the attack had been repulsed and a retaliatory special operations battalion seized a Chinese camp in the surrounding hills on the south bank of Pangong Tso Lake in the early hours of yesterday morning. India has not commented on whether either side suffered any casualties.

Yesterday, the Indian government accused Beijing of “provocative military movements”.

The Chinese foreign ministry denied its troops crossed the disputed Line of Actual Control (LAC), which separates the two superpowers, and accused the Indian Army of occupying its territory.

“India’s move has seriously violated China’s territorial sovereignty [and] severely undermined the peace and stability of the Sino-indian border area,” said Zhang Shuili, a spokesman for the PLA western theatre command.

Military commanders from both nations met along the frontier yesterday in an attempt to resolve the dispute, according to India’s ministry of defence.

It reiterated India’s commitment to dialogue but warned it was “also equally determined to protect its territorial integrity”.

Lt Gen D.S. Hooda, the Indian military’s former northern commander, said: “After relative calm, China has suddenly opened a fresh, brand new front. It’s a huge provocation.”

S. Jaishankar, India’s minister of external affairs, warned tension between the two countries is at its highest since the two agreed a ceasefire after the Sino-indian War in 1962.

On June 15, at least 20 Indian soldiers were killed, the first fatalities along the LAC in at least 45 years, after Chinese troops used nail-studded bats to attack Indian soldiers.

China is said to be trying to assert its authority in the region in the wake of strengthening India-us ties, which it sees as a threat.