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NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India said on Monday it had thwarted an attempt by Chinese troops to change the status quo on its disputed and ill-defined border in a new outbreak between the two nuclear-armed countries.
“On the night of August 29-30, 2020, PLA troops violated the previous consensus reached during military and diplomatic clashes during the ongoing clash in eastern Ladakh and carried out provocative military moves to change the status quo, “the Indian military said in a statement.
He said that Indian soldiers thwarted China’s attempt to “unilaterally change the facts on the ground.”
There was no immediate comment from China.
For months, troops have been locked in a clash in the western Himalayas where both sides accuse the other of violating the Royal Line of Control, or the de facto border. In June, 20 Indian soldiers were killed during a clash in the Galwan Valley, after which the two sides agreed to withdraw.
But despite several rounds of talks, the troops remain at each other at other points, including the high-altitude Pangong Tso Lake, which the two claim.
The Indian military said the latest outbreak took place along the lake.
“Indian troops got ahead of this PLA activity on the southern shore of Pangong Tso Lake, took steps to strengthen our positions and thwart Chinese intentions to unilaterally change the facts on the ground,” he said.
India and China have been unable to agree on their nearly 3,500 km (2,000 mile) border where they went to war in 1962. This summer’s outbreak is the most serious in more than half a century.
Military officials from the two countries were holding a meeting at a border point to resolve the latest crisis, the Indian military said.
(Report by Sanjeev Miglani, additional report by Devjyot Ghoshal and Nidhi Verma; edited by Lincoln Feast.)
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