The Indian Army convoy crossed the highway to Ladakh on September 1, 2020. The Srinagar-Leh highway has been closed to civilians following the movement of Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh.
Wasim Andrabi | Hindustan Times | Getty Images
India’s foreign ministry on Tuesday accused Chinese troops of carrying out “provocative actions” on the disputed Himalayan mountain border while commanders of the two sides were holding talks on Monday to reduce tensions between Asian giants.
Ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said in a statement that due to timely defensive action, the Indian side was able to stop these efforts from changing the unilateral situation.
An Indian official said the deployment was on four strategic hills over the weekend after New Delhi called for a Chinese infiltration attempt on the border in the western Himalayas of Ladakh.
China has denied accusing a spokesman for the embassy in New Delhi of operating a “de facto border” and “explicit provocation” against Indian troops.
For months, Indian and Chinese troops have been locked in border skirmishes in the high-itude snow desert of Ladakh and have held talks to reduce friction. The two have been at loggerheads for half a century.
Informing about the latest incident, the Indian official said that the move by the Indian Army was a response to the attempt by a large number of Chinese infantry to push through the Ki Mountains late on Saturday night.
“We collected and captured four hills, all four of which are on the Indian side towards the LAC,” the official said.
The Indian official said the Chinese troops were supported by military vehicles and came close enough to stop the Indian troops in verbal arguments, but there was no clash.
He said the incident happened on the southern shore of Pangong Tso, a picturesque lake where Indian and Chinese troops have been battling since April.
The Indian official said that the Chinese were also strengthening the position on the north bank of the lake with which a new defensive position appeared.
China blames India
But Ji Rong, a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in New Delhi, said Indian troops had violated the LAC on the south coast of Pangong Tso and near other mountains.
He said, “What India has done is to resist the efforts made by both sides from time to time to ease and cool the ground situation, and China opposes this.”
India has said it has already evacuated Chinese military activity, China’s state-backed Global Times said in an editorial. The word “pre-import” indicates that it was the Indian troops who took the first destructive action, and it was the Indian troops who started the situation this time. “
In June, 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a hand-to-hand battle with Chinese troops in the Galwan area of Ladakh, the deadliest clash between the two countries in 50 years.
The two sides then agreed to withdraw with the region’s military president after five rounds of talks. But the Indian military said this week that Beijing had renewed the deal “by making provocative military moves to change the status quo.”
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