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| DATE | 2020-06-17 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
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| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout - NYLXS] Good Old Fashioned Shooting war
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https://www.wsj.com/articles/india-china-border-dispute-turns-deadly-11592305962?mod=hp_lead_pos4
wsj.com
India-China Border Standoff Turns Violent, With 20 Indian Soldiers Dead
Rajesh Roy
6-8 minutes
The Indian government said Chinese forces also suffered casualties. A
Chinese spokesman said a clash took place after Indian soldiers
“provocatively attacked” in an area China considers under its control,
but he didn’t comment on whether troops on either side were killed or
injured.
India blamed the fighting on Chinese troops operating in an area under
Indian control. “India is very clear that all its activities are always
within the Indian side,” a statement from India’s foreign ministry said.
“We expect the same of the Chinese side.”
It was unclear how the Indian soldiers had died, but a senior military
official said that some were beaten to death with sticks embedded with
nails in a high-altitude clash that didn’t involve shooting.
The confrontation further escalates tensions that have flared in recent
weeks along the 2,000-mile Himalayan border between the two
nuclear-armed Asian giants.
Their extensive disputes over where that border lies have simmered after
fighting a full-scale war in 1962. But clashes in the high-elevation
Himalayan Mountains have increased in recent years, usually consisting
of fist fights, rock throwing and beating each other with sticks when
patrols from the two sides encounter each other in disputed areas.
Chinese and Indian troops have faced off for more than a month along a
remote stretch of the mountainous frontier following a brawl between
units patrolling one of the disputed areas. Since then, skirmishes have
broken out at other disputed Himalayan border points, including along
the northeastern part of India where scores of Indian and Chinese
soldiers last month shouted at each other and exchanged physical blows,
leaving some on both sides injured.
In recent weeks, both countries have moved thousands of additional
troops and armaments to a strategic border point near a high-altitude
glacial lake, according to experts and government officials.
Military officers have met throughout the tensions, with a face-to-face
session last week between top army leaders aimed at de-escalating
disagreements over where and how each side could patrol and introduce
weapons and other military infrastructure into disputed areas.
Analysts say the fatalities raise the stakes in the confrontation and
increase the risk of a widening conflict, even if that prospect remains low.
“The military fatalities in a confrontation underscores the risk of a
larger military conflict,” said Brahma Chellaney, professor of strategic
studies at the New Delhi-based Center for Policy Research.
Indian soldiers at the border with China in Bumla in 2012.
Photo: Anupam Nath/Associated Press
India has stepped up construction of roads and the expansion of military
bases and facilities on its side of the disputed border in recent years,
attempting to match Chinese efforts to do the same before that.
The two countries faced off for more than two months in 2017 over a
Chinese road being built on a stretch of land between China and Bhutan,
an Indian ally, that India regards as crucial to defending its claims
against China. China and India eventually worked out a deal for their
troops to step back.
The two countries have long managed tensions and troop movements along
their disputed border—referred to as the Line of Actual
Control—especially this time of year when snows melt and more of the
high-altitude territory becomes accessible for patrols and the building
of infrastructure.
Chinese paramilitary police patrolled outside the Indian embassy in
Beijing on Tuesday.
Photo: greg baker/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
This year, larger-than-normal movements of Chinese troops that could
have broader strategic implications have elevated tensions and triggered
Indian responses, analysts said.
India worries that China is persistently probing the region with its
army to erode India’s grip on the parts of disputed areas it controls.
China says India has recklessly built military capacity in and near
disputed areas.
Sreeram Chaulia, dean of the Jindal School of International Affairs,
said China may be gambling that India is bogged down by its growing
coronavirus outbreak, giving it a chance to edge its forces deeper into
the disputed territory in hopes of obstructing New Delhi’s border
infrastructure development.
“India is determinedly pushing ahead to ramp up its preparedness to
defend its side of the line of actual control and has also developed
counter-intrusion capabilities for the Indian army to penetrate into the
Chinese-held side,” he said.
Both China and India have domestic pressures to look strong, and both
harbor complaints about how the other is trying to strengthen its
geopolitical profile, said Kanti Prasad Bajpai, professor of
international relations at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
China is concerned about India’s getting closer to the U.S. while India
is worried about China’s growing aid and influence in South Asia,
particularly its tightening ties to Pakistan.
“Both sides will most probably try to cool off the immediate fight, but
not without some name calling first,” he said. “But it is likely that we
will have a repeat in the future without a proper mechanism for
de-escalation, as all the ones that had been put in place seem to have
failed.”
—Sha Hua contributed to this article.
Write to Rajesh Roy at rajesh.roy-at-wsj.com
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