China-India Border Tensions
Recent tensions between India and China along the unmarked border in India’s northeastern region of Ladakh demonstrate Beijing’s continued intention to annex disputed areas and expand its influence in South Asia, the head of Tibet’s India-based exile government said this week.
Thousands of troops from the nuclear-armed neighbors have faced off since May near Ladakh’s Pangong Lake, with Chinese troops rushing artillery and combat vehicles into the area after India was seen building a road nearby, according to Indian media reports.
Both sides have now pulled back ahead of a new round of talks aimed at reducing tensions, Indian government sources said on Tuesday, with China’s foreign ministry saying on Wednesday that discussions between commanders in the two armies have already moved the issue toward a peaceful resolution.
Indian media reported that Chinese and Indian armies have shifted forces back from three flash points high in eastern Ladakh, a part of India with a large Tibetan Buddhist population.
The current face-off in Ladakh is only the latest in a series of flare-ups along China’s and India’s 2,200-mile-long undemarcated border, or Line of Actual Control, with Indian soldiers using their fists to block an attempt by Chinese troops on May 9 to cross into Indian territory at the Nakula pass in northern Sikkim.
Meanwhile, in June 2017, India sent hundreds of troops into Bhutan to defend its ally against efforts by China to build a road southward into Doklam, an area claimed by both China and Bhutan. The stand-off continued for over two months and ended when both sides withdrew.
Watching China’s repeated probes of Indian territory and defenses, India and the international community should remember the experience of Tibet, which was invaded by China in 1950 and finally taken over by force, Lobsang Sangay—president of Tibet’s India-based exile government, the Central Tibetan Administration—said in interviews this week.
Promises by China of withdrawal from contested areas are often temporary and must be continually verified, Sangay said, speaking to Arnab Goswami of India’s Republic TV.
“It is quite difficult to trust the Chinese regime. They say something and then do exactly the opposite,” Sangay said, adding, “They came [to Tibet] in the name of peace and prosperity for the Tibetan people, but ultimately the Chinese took away our country and independence, and we were driven into exile.”
“India and the world should learn from Tibet’s experience with China,” Sangay said.
'Tibet has been militarized'
“When the Chinese government said they would build a road connecting China to Tibet, they promised us prosperity and stability,” Sangay said, speaking in an interview on Tuesday with Rahul Kanwal of India Today.
“But that road was used to bring trucks of guns and tanks to occupy Tibet, and since that time that one road has become a hundred roads reaching all over the Tibetan plateau [right up to] the borders of India.”
Six military airfields have now been built near Ladakh and the disputed northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, and military-grade rail lines now connect Tibet’s Shigatse prefecture with the borders of Nepal, Sangay said.
“So the whole Tibetan plateau has been militarized,” he said.
Until Tibet’s status as a genuinely free and autonomous region is resolved, there will be even more border incursions by China into Ladakh, Sikkim, Bhutan, and Arunachal Pradesh, Sangay said.
“Until the border changes from India-China back to India-Tibet, all of this will continue,” Sangay said. “The Indian government should say that for the security of India, Tibet needs to be free.”
Origin of the problem
“The establishment of Chinese control over Tibet is the origin of the problem,” agreed Manoj Joshi, a defense analyst at India’s Observer Reserve Foundation, speaking to RFA in an interview in May.
Recalling a war fought on the border between India and China in 1962 in which hundreds were killed or wounded on both sides, Joshi said, “The Chinese have it much easier now that they have built roads and railways into Tibet.”
“They can bring large numbers of troops up to the border now in a very short time,” he said.
The installation by China of 5G wireless telecommunications equipment on Mount Everest, bordering Nepal, has meanwhile strengthened China’s ability to monitor and disrupt military communications in neighboring states, said S.N. Ravichandran—joint secretary of the Cyber Society of India—also speaking to RFA.
“Not only India but other countries should be wary as well,” Ravichandran said.
“What happens if military units in Sikkim and Ladakh are disrupted, and that’s where the concentrations [of forces] are building up?,” he asked.
“This is of great strategic importance, and yes, India is aware of it. I think that the Indian military is aware of it and is taking measures,” he said.
China-India Border Tensions Underscore Beijing’s Expansionist Intent, Says Tibetan Exile Government Leader
India soldiers killed in clash with Chinese forces
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A Chinese soldier stands guard on the Chinese side of the border in 2008Three Indian soldiers have been killed in a clash with Chinese forces in Ladakh in the disputed Kashmir region.
The deaths are the first in the disputed border area in at least 45 years, and follow rising military tensions between the nuclear powers.
The Indian army said senior military officials from both sides were "meeting to defuse the situation", adding that both sides suffered casualties.
An Indian army spokesman said the dead were one officer and two soldiers.
China did not confirm any casualties, but accused India of crossing the border in the Galwan Valley.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said India had crossed the border twice on Monday, "provoking and attacking Chinese personnel, resulting in serious physical confrontation between border forces on the two sides", AFP news agency reported.
Both sides insist no bullet has been fired in four decades, and the Indian army said on Tuesday that "no shots were fired" in this latest skirmish.
Local media outlets reported that the Indian soldiers were "beaten to death" but there was no confirmation from the military.
China's Global Times newspaper reported that "solemn representations" had been made with India over the incident.
The clash comes amid rising tensions between the two powers, which have brawled along the border in recent weeks but not exchanged any gunfire.
India has accused China of sending thousands of troops into Ladakh's Galwan valley and says China occupies 38,000sq km (about 14,700sq miles) of its territory. Several rounds of talks in the last three decades have failed to resolve the boundary disputes.
https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2020/06/35.pngThe deaths reported on Tuesday are believed to be the first in decades in a confrontation between the two powers. They have fought only one war so far, in 1962, when India suffered a humiliating defeat.
In May, dozens of Indian and Chinese soldiers exchanged physical blows in a clash on the border in the north-eastern state of Sikkim. And in 2017, the two countries clashed in the region after China tried to extend a border road through a disputed plateau.
Their armies - two of the world's largest - come face to face at many points. The two sides are separated by the poorly demarcated Line of Actual Control (LAC). Rivers, lakes and snowcaps mean the line can shift, provoking confrontation.
https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2020/06/432.jpgImage copyrightPRESS INFORMATION BUREAUImage captionTensions have risen over a road built by India in LadakhThere are several reasons why tensions are rising now - but competing strategic goals lie at the root, and both sides blame each other.
India has built a new road in what experts say is the most remote and vulnerable area along the LAC in Ladakh. And India's decision to ramp up infrastructure seems to have infuriated Beijing.
The road could boost Delhi's capability to move men and material rapidly in case of a conflict.
India also disputes part of Kashmir - an ethnically diverse Himalayan region covering about 140,000sq km - with Pakistan.
https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2020/06/433.jpghttps://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2019/01/13.pngOver the past week, Indian media have been reporting that troops from both sides had been gradually moving back from their stand-off positions, and that efforts were under way to de-escalate the tensions along the border. So it will come as a surprise to many to hear of a violent clash in which three Indian soldiers were killed.
The last time the two sides exchanged any gunfire along the border was 1975, when four Indian soldiers were killed in a remote pass in north-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh.
The details of the latest skirmish, and the emergency measures being taken to defuse it, are still unclear.
Whatever the result, the latest incident is likely to trigger a fresh wave of anti-China sentiments in India.
It will also present daunting foreign policy and security challenges to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government, which is struggling to contain a surge of Covid-19 infections and revive an economy which looks headed for recession.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-53061476