India-China Border Skirmish

[Ryan Ruck]

Sounds like there has been some border skirmishing between China and India just recently.

A coincidence it happens as India's PM is visiting with Trump?

[Ryan Ruck]

China Lodges Protest Over 'Crossing Of Border' By Indian Troops In Sikkim

June 27, 2017

China on Tuesday accused Indian troops of "crossing the boundary"+ in the Sikkim section and demanded their immediate withdrawal, while asserting that it has shut down the Nathu La pass entry for Indian pilgrims travelling to Kailash Mansarovar because of the border standoff.

China also said that it has lodged diplomatic protests with India, both in New Delhi and Beijing, alleging that the Indian troops trespassed+ into Chinese territory in the Sikkim sector.

"We have lodged solemn representations in Beijing and New Delhi to elaborate on our solemn position," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang told a media briefing here.

"Our position to uphold our territorial sovereignty is unwavering. We hope the Indian side can work with China in the same direction and immediately withdraw the personnel who have overstepped and trespassed into Chinese border," he said.

China, last night, said that it had put off the visit of Indian pilgrims who enter Tibet via the Nathu La pass "for safety reasons" in view of the border issue.

"China urges India to immediately withdraw its border guards+ that have crossed the boundary and have a thorough investigation of this matter," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said.

"The Indian border guards crossed the boundary in the Sikkim section of the China-India border and entered the territory of China, and obstructed normal activities of Chinese frontier forces in the Donglang area recently, and the Chinese side has taken counter-measures," he said in a statement last night.

His statement came after the Chinese defence ministry accused the Indian troops of objecting to building a road+ in what it claimed to be Chinese territory.

The dispute over the constructing of the road was apparently the reason why China stopped a batch of 47 Indian pilgrims from crossing through Nathu La border in Sikkim into Tibet to visit Kailash and Mansarovar.

Chinese defence ministry spokesman Ren Guoqiang said yesterday that recently China has begun the construction of a road in Donglang region, but was stopped by Indian troops crossing the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

In his statement, Geng said that the Sikkim section of the China-India boundary has been defined by treaties, noting that the Indian government has repeatedly confirmed in writing that there is no objection to it.

China urges India to respect boundary treaties and China's territorial sovereignty to maintain peace and stability at the China-India boundary, Geng said.

In view of the above event, for safety reasons, China has to put off arranging for the Indian pilgrims to enter China through the Nathu La pass, Geng said, adding that China has informed India of its decision through diplomatic channels.

The Nathu La Pass sits 4,545 metres above the sea level and is wedged between Yadong County in Xigaze Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, and Sikkim.

Yesterday, Geng had also said that the foreign ministries of both the countries were in talks over this issue.

Geng's statement comes after tension mounted in a remote area of Sikkim following a scuffle between the personnel of the Indian Army and the PLA, leading to Chinese troops damaging bunkers on the Indian side of the border.

[Ryan Ruck]

China Issues Stern Warning For Indian Army

June 27, 2017


(I wonder if that's their MRE on 4 legs. )

China has accused Indian border guards of crossing into its territory from the state of Sikkim on India's northeastern border with Tibet, the Chinese foreign and defence ministries have said, complicating an already difficult relationship.

Geng Shuang, a spokesman with China's foreign ministry, said Indian guards “obstructed normal activities” by Chinese forces on the border and called on India to withdraw immediately, according to a ministry statement late on Monday.

He urged India to respect China's territorial integrity and the border treaties signed by the two countries, and said China had already suspended official pilgrimages at the Nathu La Pass, which lies on the frontier between Sikkim state and Tibet.

A spokesman for the Indian Army declined to comment but said the army would issue a statement on Tuesday. India's defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Nathu La connects India to Hindu and Buddhist sites in the region and was the site of a fierce border clash between Chinese and Indian troops in 1967.

China's Defence Ministry said in a separate statement India's military had obstructed work on a road, a move it described as seriously threatening peace on the border.

“China is dedicated to developing bilateral relations, and will staunchly defend its legitimate rights,” it said.

“China hopes India will meet it halfway, not do anything to complicate the border issues and jointly maintain the good momentum of relations,” the defence ministry said.

Ties between China and India have long been frosty as a result of long-term territorial disputes, as well as Beijing's support of Pakistan, and Indian leaders declined to attend China's “Belt and Road” summit aimed at boosting regional economic and political ties last month.

Chinese President Xi Jinping told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this month that the two countries should work to “appropriately” manage their differences.

A visit in April by Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who Beijing brands a separatist, to a region controlled by India but claimed by China also stoked tensions between the two countries.

The Indian government has since taken steps to cool tensions, rejecting an Australian request to take part in joint naval exercises with the United States and Japan last month to avoid agonising China.

Modi is expected to visit China in September to attend a summit of the BRICS nations, which groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

[Ryan Ruck]

India-US Alliance To Check China Will Be Catastrophic: Chinese Media

June 27, 2017

Any attempt by India to become US ally to counter China will not be in its interests and could even lead to "catastrophic results", a state-run Chinese daily said as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump held their maiden meeting.

"Washington and New Delhi share anxieties about China's rise. In recent years, to ratchet up geopolitical pressure on China, the US has cozied up to India," an article in the Global Times said.

Underlining that India is not a US ally like Japan or Australia, it said, "To assume a role as an outpost country in the US' strategy to contain China is not in line with India's interests. It could even lead to catastrophic results."

The daily said if India regresses from its non-alignment stance and becomes a "pawn" for the US in countering China, it will be caught up in a strategic dilemma and new geopolitical frictions will be triggered in South Asia.

With an eye on China and the disputes in the South China Sea, Modi and Trump after their meeting in the White House called for freedom of navigation and resolving of territorial and maritime disputes peacefully in accordance with international law.

A joint statement+ on the meeting said as responsible stewards in the Indo-Pacific region, Trump and Modi agreed that a close partnership between the United States and India is central to peace and stability in the region.

The Chinese daily in the article said both former Soviet Union and the US under Kennedy presidency tried to pit India against China but the results were not "satisfactory".

"From the end of the 1950s to the beginning of the 1960s, both the Soviet Union and the US wanted to play the India card to check China. Then the Kennedy government supported India's Forward Policy. But the result wasn't what was expected. India isn't able to balance China, which has been proved by history," it said.

Asserting that India should avoid being roped into a "geopolitical trap", the daily said despite New Delhi's anxieties over Beijing's rise, maintaining a stable relationship with China is of more importance to its security and development.

[Ryan Ruck]

India-China Troop Stand-Off Continues, With Both Sides Sending Reinforcements

June 27, 2017

The tense face-off between Indian and Chinese armies in the Doka La area at the Sikkim-Bhutan-Tibet tri-junction showed no signs of abating on Tuesday, with the two sides having reinforced their positions with additional troops in the remote border region.

China has officially accused Indian troops of "crossing the boundary" to disrupt the construction of a road in the region, making it clear that it has shut down the Nathu La Pass for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra pilgrims because of the border stand-off.

But Indian sources maintain it was soldiers from the People's Liberation Army who intruded into Indian territory, destroyed two bunkers near the Lalten post and abruptly stopped the batch of pilgrims headed for Kailash Mansarovar in Tibet.

The seriousness of the situation can be gauged from the fact that top Indian Army officers, including the general officer commanding of the 17 Division, are camping in the region after the jostling and scuffle between the rival troops. There are almost 1,000 soldiers from each side in the troop confrontation underway for over the last 10 days, with the Army headquarters in New Delhi closely monitoring the situation on an hourly basis, say sources.

"The situation is tense but under control. It must be remembered that there has not been any incident of firing along the Line of Actual Control for the last 50 years. Efforts are in progress to diffuse the situation in accordance with laid-down procedures," said a source.

The bone of contention is the attempt by the PLA to further extend the road it has already constructed in the strategically-located Chumbi Valley region at the tri-junction, which is just about five km from the Siliguri Corridor or the so-called 'Chicken Neck area' that connects India with its north-eastern states.

The Army on Tuesday once again refused to say anything about the stand-off but sources say the PLA troops in the Doka La region are equipped with heavy earth-moving and road-construction equipment. A flag meeting between the two rival commanders on the ground on June 20 failed to defuse the situation.

China, on its part, has lodged a diplomatic protest with India to demand the immediate withdrawal of Indian troops from the area.

As earlier reported by TOI, while such transgressions and troop face-offs along the 4,057-km long LAC are quite common in Arunachal Pradesh and eastern Ladakh, they are relatively rare in Sikkim. But PLA troops did destroy a few makeshift bunkers of the Indian Army in the Doka La region in November 2007.

The Border Defence Cooperation Agreement (BDCA) inked as a major confidence-building measure between the two countries in October 2013, which is geared towards ensuring troop face-offs are effectively defused at the local level itself, is yet to become fully operational on the ground.

[American Patriot]

Anything new on this lately? First I saw of it was here.

[Ryan Ruck]

China Steps Up Troops Deployment On Indian Border, Vow To Defend Sovereignty At “Whatever Cost”

July 25, 2017

China warned on Monday that it will step up its troop deployment in a border dispute with India, vowing to defend its sovereignty at “whatever cost”.

The standoff started more than a month ago after Chinese troops started building a road on a remote plateau, which is disputed by China and Bhutan. Indian troops moved in to the flashpoint zone to halt the work, with China accusing them of violating its territorial sovereignty and calling for their immediate withdrawal.

“The crossing of the mutually recognised national borders on the part of India… is a serious violation of China’s territory and runs against the international law,” Chinese defence ministry spokesman Wu Qian told a press conference. “The determination and the willingness and the resolve of China to defend its sovereignty is indomitable, and it will safeguard its sovereignty and security interests at whatever cost,” he added.

Chinese “border troops have taken emergency response measures in the area and will further step up deployment and trainings in response to the situation,” he said. The spokesman did not give any details about the deployment.

India and China have both said they have foreign support for their positions on the conflict. Bhutan has said construction of the road is “a direct violation” of agreements with China. Bhutan and China do not have diplomatic relations.

India, which fought a war with China in 1962 over a separate part of the disputed Himalayan border, supports Bhutan’s claim. But India should “not have any illusions” that its position will prevail, Wu said.

“The history of the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) over the past 90 years has proven that our resolve to safeguard China’s sovereignty and territory… are indomitable,” he said. “It is difficult to shake the PLA, even more difficult than to shake a mountain.”

India and China have vied for influence in South Asia, with Beijing ploughing large sums into infrastructure projects in Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Bhutan has remained closely allied to India.

[Ryan Ruck]

China Says Countdown For War With India Has Begun

August 10, 2017

The relationship between India and China seemed to worsen Wednesday when the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that 53 people and an Indian bulldozer was in China's territory and advised India to pull them back. This followed a warning Tuesday when an editorial in the state-run China Daily said that the "countdown to a clash between the two forces has begun."

"India should withdraw its troops and equipment. Regardless of how many Indian troops have trespassed into and stayed in Chinese territory, they have gravely infringed on China's sovereignty," the ministry said, the Global Times reported.

The China Daily editorial said the clock was ticking and that it seemed like a clash would be “an inevitable conclusion” between the two prominent Asian countries if India did pull back its troops from the disputed Doklam region.

The article referred to a border standoff between the two countries that has continued for over two months. The controversy began when India opposed China’s plan to extend a border road through a disputed plateau which Bhutan says is its Doklam region and China claims as part of its Donglang region.

India and Bhutan have historically maintained strong relations. The Indian Army is involved in training the Royal Bhutan Army, while Bhutan cooperates closely with India in determining its foreign policy. India has expressed concern that the road, if completed, would make it easier for China to access India's northeastern states. In the event of a conflict, India fears this would help China cut off its northeast from the rest of the country, the BBC reported.

The editorial on Tuesday said that while Beijing had tried time and again to avoid conflict and warned India on several occasions, India has refrained from pulling back its troops. "Anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear will have got the message. Yet New Delhi refuses to come to its senses and pull its troops back to its own side of the border," it stated.

According to the newspaper, a spokesman for China's Ministry of Defense warned India not to underestimate the Chinese army and that there was a “bottom line” to the restraint that China had shown. It added that “India’s audacity” to challenge China might have come from the fact that India was suffering from a sense of insecurity and inferiority faced with China’s increasing prominence in the region.

While China has warned India about consequences of not pulling back its army, India does not look like it is backing down. Speaking in India’s parliament on Wednesday, Defense Minister Arun Jaitley said the country was ready to meet any challenge. Referring to the war that took place in 1962 between the two countries, which India lost, Jaitley said the country had learned many lessons from it.

"Some people are targeting our country's sovereignty and integrity. But I am fully confident that our brave soldiers have capability to keep our country secure, may it be challenges on the eastern border or the western border," he said, according to reports.

China and India share a border that extends 2,174 miles. Following the war in 1962, disputes in areas like Aksai Chin, Depsang Plains and some areas in the northeast Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, have remained unresolved.

Tibet’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who resides in India, has also been a sticking point between the two countries. Speaking on the issue the Dalai Lama on Wednesday emphasized that talks are the only solution. "I do not think it is very serious. India and China have to live side by side." He said, according to reports.

[Ryan Ruck]

India Deploys More Troops Along China Border In Sikkim, Arunachal, ‘Caution Level’ Raised

India-China ties are currently under strain after New Delhi, along with Bhutan, raised concerns over Beijing’s attempts to build a road in the disputed Doklam area in the Sikkim sector

August 11, 2017

In a strategically key move, India has poured in more troops along the entire stretch of its border with China in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh in the face of heightened rhetoric by Beijing over the Doklam standoff, senior government officials said on Friday.

The “caution level” among the troops has also been raised, the officials told PTI.

The decision to increase the deployment along the nearly 1,400-km Sino-India border from Sikkim to Arunachal Pradesh was taken after carrying out a detailed analysis of the situation and considering China’s aggressive posturing against India on Doklam, the officials said.

“The troop level along the border with China in the Sikkim and Arunachal sectors has been increased,” said the officials on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information.

The Army’s Sukna-based 33 Corps as well as 3 and 4 corps based in Arunachal and Assam are tasked to protect the sensitive Sino-India border in the eastern theatre.

The officials declined to give any figure or percentage of increased deployment, saying they cannot disclose “operational details.”

According to defence experts, roughly 45,000 troops including personnel having completed the weather acclimatisation process are normally kept ready along the border at any given time, but not all are necessarily deployed.

The soldiers, deployed over 9,000 feet, have to go through a 14-day-long acclimatisation process.

The officials, however, said there is no enhancement of troops at the India-China-Bhutan tri-junction in Doklam where around 350 army personnel are holding on to their position for nearly eight weeks after stopping Chinese troops from constructing a road on June 16.

Bhutan and China have competing claims over Doklam, and are negotiating a resolution.

China has been ramping up rhetoric against India over the last few weeks, demanding immediate withdrawal of Indian troops from Dokalam. The Chinese state media, particularly, has carried a barrage of critical articles on the Dokalam stand-off slamming India.

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj recently said both sides should first pull back their troops for any talks to take place, and favoured a peaceful resolution of the border standoff.

India also conveyed to the Chinese government that the road construction would represent a significant change of status quo with serious security implications for it.

[Ryan Ruck]

Tensions Between China, India Heighten Along Border

August 12, 2017

Tensions between China and India have long flared from time to time as the two powers compete for land in a tiny corner of the world where their borders meet. India is said to have increased its military alert status along a portion of the 4,057-km Sino-Indian Line of Actual Control, putting 50,000 troops on an increased state of readiness.

The intersection of borders between Bhutan, China and India has seen an eight-week standoff with soldiers from opposing sides standing only 100 meters apart in some places. Indian soldiers recently stopped road construction in the area by the People’s Liberation Army, concerned that China is changing the facts on the ground in the area. The areas of contention are the Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh provinces controlled by India and claimed by China.

“It is at the moment a localized affair on the Sino-Indian border in Sikkim,” said S. L. Narasimhan, a Coimbatore-based independent defense analyst who retired as a Lieutenant General from the Indian Army. “There is no reason for panic. In other areas along the Line of Actual Control, normal military activity and usual patrolling would have gone up in view of the situation in Doklam, reported Bloomberg News.

China has been aggressive in the South China Sea as well, fortifying man-made islands in the region and threatening international sea lanes with militarization of land claimed by other nations such as the Philippines, Vietnam, and others. As China rises in economic and military power, their frontier becomes more in focus as they attempt to settle old land disputes.