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SHANGHAI – China can make India suffer more serious military losses than in the past if it wants to take part in the competition, the state-run Global Times newspaper said on Tuesday, following a new border outbreak between the two nuclear-armed countries.
Indian forces thwarted an attempt by Chinese troops to occupy a hill on the disputed border of the Asian giants in the western Himalayas, officials in New Delhi said on Monday.
On the same day, China’s military spokesman demanded that India withdraw troops that Beijing said had illegally crossed their shared border. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said that Chinese border troops had not crossed the line of actual control.
“India … said it was ahead of Chinese military activity,” the Global Times said in an editorial. “The word ‘anticipate’ shows that it was the Indian troops who first took destructive actions, and the Indian troops started the confrontation this time.”
He added that India faces a “powerful China” and that New Delhi should have no “illusions” of support from Washington on the issue.
“But if India wants to participate in the competition, China has more tools and capabilities than India. If India wanted a military showdown, the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) will surely make the Indian army suffer much more serious losses than in 1962.”
The Global Times is published by the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the ruling Communist Party of China.
Tensions between the two armies in the icy snowy deserts of the Ladakh region have risen for months.
In June, 20 Indian soldiers were killed in hand-to-hand combat with Chinese troops in the nearby Galwan Valley, the most serious military confrontation between the neighbors in more than half a century.
Both sides agreed to withdraw after that clash, but the Indian army accused Chinese forces of violating that agreement over the weekend.
(Reporting by Brenda Goh; Editing by Stephen Coates)
