Shots fired on India-China border for first time in decades as tensions flare
20 Indian soldiers killed in clash
NEW DELHI — India and China accused each other Tuesday of firing warning shots during a confrontation the day before at their disputed border in a marked escalation of tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.
It was the first time in decades that both sides said shots were fired at the frontier, where longstanding, mutual protocols prohibit the use of firearms.
Such protocols did not prevent the two countries from engaging in their deadliest violence in more than 50 years in June, when Chinese soldiers armed with clubs studded with nails and metal rods clashed with Indian troops in a remote area of the western Himalayas.
Twenty Indian soldiers were killed. The number of Chinese casualties remains unknown.
Both countries moved thousands of troops, as well as tanks, artillery and fighter jets, to areas close to the disputed and unmarked border, which is known as the Line of Actual Control.
Experts say that, starting in May, China intruded into areas claimed by India at several points along the frontier and might now control as much as 400 square miles that India considers its own. Months of talks have failed to reduce tensions.
Last week, President Trump said the situation between India and China had been “very nasty” and that the United States stood “ready to help.”
Col. Zhang Shuili, spokesman for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Western Theater Command, said in a statement early Tuesday that Indian troops had “blatantly fired upon Chinese border patrols with threatening shots” near the southern bank of the Pangong Tso lake in Ladakh. In response, Chinese troops took unspecified “countermeasures,” he said.
“These are serious military provocations of a terrible nature,” Zhang said. China demanded that India restrain its troops and punish the soldiers who fired their weapons.