BackArmy officer, two soldiers killed in a 'violent face' off with Chinese troops
The seriousness of the clash which happened late Monday can be gauged from the fact that this is first time in 45 years that troops of both sides have reported casualties during a face-off despite sharing uneasy ties
PremiumIn a major escalation of tensions between India and China, an Indian army officer and two soldiers were killed in a “violent face off" with Chinese troops in the Galwan area of Ladakh, the Indian army said Tuesday.
The seriousness of the clash which happened late Monday can be gauged from the fact that this is first time in 45 years that troops of both sides have reported casualties during a face-off despite sharing uneasy ties. According to Deependra Singh Hooda, a former general officer commanding in chief of the India’s army’s Northern command under which Ladakh falls, the last time casualties were reported between the two countries was in Tawang area in Arunachal Pradesh in 1975.
The chain of events is expected to deepen the geopolitical fault lines in Asia with one of the outcomes being a possible closing of ranks between China’s rivals and India, analysts say.
Indian diplomats had previously drawn a distinction between India’s borders with China and Pakistan stating that while the frontier with Pakistan remained volatile, not a shot had been fired by troops patrolling the India-China border for decades. Pacts signed in 1993, 1996, 2005, 2012 and 2013 with a series of confidence building measures had seemed to hold ties together despite an undemarcated border.
Monday’s clashes upends understanding reached between Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and Chinese president Xi Jinping during their informal summit in Wuhan in 2018 – after the 73 day long Doklam military standoff– and other meetings including one in Chennai in October last year that differences should not be allowed to become disputes. Besides this, the two leaders had agreed in previous meetings that peace and tranquility along the border was important for stable bilateral ties – something Monday’s clash also overturns.
The sudden spurt in tensions ironically came as the two sides were engaged in discussions to pull back troops amassed over weeks after clashes between the soldiers of the two sides in early May. The cause for this was China objecting to a road that India was building on the banks of the lake. On 9 June, India had announced that a process of limited disengagement was underway at three of four places of tension in Ladakh and that talks at the military level over the next 10 days would discuss steps for a complete standown of the troops lined up across the LAC. The breakthrough had come after talks between senior military officers of the two countries on 6 June on the Chinese side of the LAC in Moldo. Some reports had put the number of troops amassed by the Chinese side along the LAC at 5,000 backed by more troops, heavy vehicles, artillery and even fighter jets in areas beyond. India had matched the Chinese deployment, two people familiar with the development had said.
“During the de-escalation process underway in the Galwan Valley, a violent face-off took place yesterday night with casualties. The loss of lives on the Indian side includes an officer and two soldiers. Senior military officials of the two sides are currently meeting at the venue to defuse the situation," the Indian army statement on Tuesday said. It was later amended to add that there were “casualties on both sides." The Indian army said there was no firing between the two sides, leading to speculation that the deaths were caused during hand to hand fighting or when the troops assaulted each other using stones or rods. News reports said some Indian soldiers – the numbers varying between a dozen to about three dozen -- were also missing after the clash. China’s state-run Global Times reported five Chinese People’s Liberation Army soldiers were killed and 11 injured in the clash with Indian troops.
In a terse statement, Indian foreign ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava said India had been hopeful that the de-escalation process would unfold smoothly, but “the Chinese side departed from the consensus to respect the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Galwan Valley."
With China trying to “unilaterally change the status quo" both sides “suffered casualties that could have been avoided" had China stuck to what had been agreed, he said.
“We remain firmly convinced of the need for the maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the border areas and the resolution of differences through dialogue. At the same time, we are also strongly committed to ensuring India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity," Srivastava said.
Sameer Patil, an expert on international relations at the Mumbai based Gateway House think tank said that “India will have to start to take concrete steps to ensure that both countries move towards resolving the boundary issue."
“China has an idea of where India thinks its border with China lies since we have given them a map. India should now seek a map from China that gives us a sense of what their perception of the border is," he said.
The situation along the border was reviewed by Defence minister Rajnath Singh who met with senior military officials twice on Tuesday. The meeting was also attended by Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar. China. Singh later briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the tensions.
“Bilateral ties will suffer" due to this incident, said Srikanth Kondapalli, a professor of international relations at the New Delhi based Jawaharlal Nehru University. “India will interact with China at multilateral fora but the relationship will be more circumspect at the bilateral level," he said. India’s tilt towards groupings like the “Quad," that includes US, Japan and Australia besides India will increase, he said adding that New Delhi would likely embrace concepts like the Indo-Pacific with more ease now than in the past.
The Chinese foreign ministry when asked about Indian army reporting casualties in clash, said calls on India to not take unilateral actions or stir up trouble, a Reuters report from Beijing said. China also lodged a protest with India over Monday’s face-off which Beijing said took place when the Indian personnel crossed the border line for "illegal activities and provoked and attacked Chinese personnel" leading to serious physical conflict. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Luo Zhaohui met Indian Ambassador to Beijing Vikram Misri on the issue.
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