India sent more soldiers to the disputed border region with China on Wednesday following the deadly hand-to-hand brawl that saw 20 Indian solders killed.
The increase in military personnel comes despite both sides declaring publicly that they would pull back military personnel from the region.
Indian fighter jets were also seen flying over the Himalayan region as part of a show of strength following what military sources say has been a Chinese takeover of contested territory.
Chinese forces have held onto a chunk of land covering several square miles at the mouth of the Galwan valley following the deadly brawl on June 15 that involved rocks and nail-studded batons, the Indian military sources told news outlet AFP.
But both have maintained troops around the valley, with India deploying more forces and trying to project military might.
Indian jets regularly took off Wednesday from a military base in Leh, the main Indian town in the contested region, and headed towards the mountainous border 150 miles away.
Indian soldiers walk along the foothills of a mountain range near Leh, the joint capital of the union territory of Ladakh, on June 24, 2020, as India sent more troops to the disputed border region with China after 20 died in fighting on June 15, raising tensions between the countries
There were also checkpoints on main roads out of Leh and a frenzy of military activity around the main town, which lies at 3,500 metres, and residents reported long lines of military trucks and artillery on roads near Leh.
‘We now have a good strength present in the area,’ an official of the Indian army’s Northern Command told AFP on condition of anonymity, referring to the reinforcements.
Tashi Chhepal, a retired Indian army captain who has served in the area and is based in Leh, said the mobilisation was unprecedented in a sensitive region touching Pakistan as well as China.
‘I haven’t seen this kind of military movement before,’ he told the news outlet.
After the latest round of talks between military commanders on Monday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said the two sides had ‘agreed to take necessary measures to promote a cooling of the situation’.
But they made similar comments after a fist-fight in May that proved to be a warm-up for the medieval-style battle at Galwan.
In the fighting on June 15, that involved rocks and nail-studded batons, 20 Indian soldiers were killed. Many died after being knocked unconscious and plunging into the Galwan River. A group of around 70 soldiers were seen walking in the foothills of the mountain pass on June 24
Pictured: An Indian fighter jet flies over Leh, the joint capital of the union territory of Ladakh, on June 24, 2020 in an apparent show of strength from India
Images taken on Sunday by the US satellite firm Maxar showed trucks and huts at camps on the river at 4,500 metres near the scene of the fighting. It was not clear whose army they were.
The two countries fought a border war in 1962 but this month’s fighting was their deadliest encounter in 53 years.
According to Indian military sources, Chinese troops ambushed Indian soldiers and forced them down a ridge where they had gone to remove a Chinese ‘encroachment’.
A bilateral accord prevents the use of guns, but the fighting was still fierce, reportedly with rocks and batons wrapped with barbed wire.
China has in turn accused Indian soldiers of twice crossing the Line of Actual Control, the unofficial boundary, provoking its troops.
But the Chinese appear to be sticking to their gains at Galwan and the nearby Pangong Tso lake, police intelligence as well as military sources told AFP.
An Indian Air Force’s Chinook helicopter flies over a Himalayan mountain range near Leh, the joint capital of the union territory of Ladakh, on June 24, 2020, near where fighting broke out between Indian and Chinese forces on June 15
This is the Galwan valley where the brawl between Indian and Chinese soldiers took place. The unofficial border between the two countries runs through the middle of the photo on the dotted red line. Chinese bulldozers appear to have been diverting the river on the right of the photo, on their side of the border
China is now claiming the valley as its own, in statements that India has rejected.
Indian analysts are dubious of the chances of a major easing of the tensions or that India will reclaim the territory.
Harsh Pant from the Observer Research Foundation think-tank in New Delhi said: ‘Anything that the Chinese now say can’t be taken on face value. India, hopefully, has learnt its lessons now.’
Amid calls for a boycott of Chinese goods, media reports say Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government could make it more difficult for Chinese companies to do business.
But analysts say there is recognition on both sides that their economies need each other.
‘There may be some short term public backlash against China in India, but publicly, Pakistan swamps China as a perceived threat,’ said Vipin Narang, a security specialist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
‘The effects of this crisis, even if it slow burns, may be short lived amongst India’s public. And cheap TVs are still cheap TVs.’
Pictured: A satellite image taken on June 22, 2020, released by Maxar Technologies, shows China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) base in Kongka Pass, bordering India and China
Another satellite image, pictured, shows China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) tank company and artillery north of Gogra, bordering India and China. Some of the vehicles are covered up, perhaps in an attempt to hide them
China is India’s second-biggest trading partner, with bilateral trade worth $87 billion in the fiscal year ending March 2019, and a trade deficit of $53.57 billion in China’s favour, the widest India has with any country.
The summit held on Monday between the two nations was reportedly tense, with Indian commanders pushing for the Chinese to withdraw from the region.
An Indian government source said the meeting lasted several hours, with the Indian side pushing China to withdraw its troops back to where they were in April.
China, in previous rounds of talks, had asked India to stop all construction work in what it says is Chinese territory.
In the brutal battle, soldiers fought with rocks, metal rods and wooden clubs during last week’s vicious skirmish, the culmination of a month long standoff.
China has not disclosed how many casualties it suffered, though an Indian minister has said around 40 Chinese soldiers may have been killed.
Many died after being knocked unconscious and plunging into the frigid glacial waters of the Galwan River.
Pictured: A Karni Sena supporter tears a banner featuring Chinese President Xi Jinping and shout slogans during a protest against China in Ahmedabad, India, Wednesday, June 24, 2020
Anti-China protesters in India demonstrate against China following the fighting on June 15 which saw 20 Indian soldiers die. Some are calling for the boycott of Chinese goods, however the two nations are both reliant on one-another for trade
Following the fighting, demonstrations against China have been across India.
In one example, members of an Indian traders’ body made a bonfire of Chinese goods at a market in New Delhi, pushing for a nationwide boycott of products made in China.
The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), which represents some 70 million traders, has asked federal and state governments to support a boycott of Chinese goods and cancel government contracts awarded to Chinese companies.
‘The entire nation is filled with extreme anger and intensity to give a strong befitting response to China not only militarily but also economically,’ CAIT National General Secretary Praveen Khandelwal wrote in a letter to chief ministers of some Indian states.
In prosperous Maharashtra, the government said it was putting three investment plans, including from Great Wall Motor Co, on hold.
‘In the current environment we will wait for the federal government to announce a clear policy regarding these projects,’ industries minister Subhash Desai said.
Patch of uninhabitable desert that India and China have been fighting over for centuries
The Himalayan border between India and China has been disputed for centuries, but the two countries have been fighting over it most recently since the 1960s.
In the 18th century it was fought over by the Russian, Chinese and British empires, and after India gained independence ownership of the region became more confused.
China values the region because it provides a trading route to Pakistan, and recent hostilities have been sparked by fears in Beijing that India will cut it off from the crucial overland corridor.
The current official border between the two was set by Britain and is known as the McMahon line. It is recognised by India but not by China.
In reality, the border between the two countries is on Line of Actual Control (LAC) where Indian and Chinese forces finished after the Sino-Indian War of 1962.
At least 20 Indian soldiers, including a colonel, were killed and at least 43 Chinese men were wounded or killed last Monday night along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), a disputed border in the Himlayas (the red territory is controlled by India, and the beige and grey stripes, Aksai Chin, is Chinese but claimed by India, the white line which surrounds is what Indian believes its border should be, whereas the black line was agreed after then 1962 Sino-Indian War – a heavy defeat for India)
Aksai Chin, the site of the latest tensions, is located in India according to the official border but is claimed as part of the Chinese region of Xinjiang by Beijing.
It is an almost uninhabited high-altitude scrubland traversed by the Xinjiang-Tibet Highway.
The other disputed territory is hundreds of miles away to the east of Tibet.
The 1962 Sino-Indian War was fought on these two frontiers as Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru put it, a struggle over land where ‘not even a blade of grass grows.’
In addition to the disputed border, China had seized Tibet ten years before and accused India of trying to to subvert Beijing’s interests by granting asylum to the Dalai Lama.
There was also a Cold War element and India wanted to see if the US would back it in a confrontation against communist China.
Delhi had ignored the desolate corner of the subcontinent which allowed the Chinese to build a military road through it during the 1950s to connect the province of Xinjiang to Tibet.
The Indian discovery of this highway was a major factor which led to ferocious clashes leading up to the war.
Yet the Indians had just two divisions posted at the border when the Chinese invaded, never suspecting that Beijing would be so bold as to cross the McMahon Line.
The war lasted for one month and left more than 2,000 dead on both sides. It was a heavy defeat for India and led to the new border, the LAC, being established and pushing India back from McMahon line.
Uninhabitable desert: The Galwan Valley where the mass brawl between the Indian and Chinese forces took place. The Chinese interest in the region surrounds President Xi Jinping’s centrepiece ‘Belt and Road’ policy to have vast infrastructure throughout the old Silk Road. Beijing fears that increased Indian presence in the region will cut off its trade route to Pakistan
Much of the reason for the ongoing conflict is the ill-defined border, the result of a confused status the region had during the colonial era, which was made more murky by India’s war with Pakistan in 1947.
Chinese interest in the region surrounds President Xi Jinping’s centrepiece ‘Belt and Road’ foreign policy to have vast infrastructure throughout the old Silk Road.
Beijing fears that increased Indian presence in the region will cut off its trade route to Pakistan.
The two sides have blamed each other for recent hostilities but analysts say India’s building of new roads in the region may have been the fuse for May’s standoff.
Both sides have dispatched reinforcements and heavy equipment to the zone.