The situation along India’s border with China is stable but unpredictable, Indian Army Chief General Manoj Pande said on the occasion of India’s Army Day.
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“The situation on the northern borders is stable but unpredictable. We managed to solve five of the seven problems that were on the table. We continue negotiations both at the military and diplomatic levels. We have enough reserves to cope with any unforeseen event,” said General Pande.
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Earlier, Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said that on December 9, Chinese troops tried to violate the border in the state of Arunachal Pradesh and “unilaterally change the status quo.” As a result of the clash between the military of India and China, there were victims, no one died. The Indian Defense Minister added that “the Chinese side has been asked to refrain from such actions and maintain peace and tranquility along the border.” According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the situation on the border of China and India after the clash of the military is stable, the parties maintain contacts through diplomatic and military channels.
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This is the first incident of its kind since the May 2020 clash in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed and several more injured in clashes with Chinese forces in the high-altitude Galwan Valley in the Ladakh border region.
There is a long-standing territorial dispute between India and China over ownership of a piece of mountainous territory in northern Kashmir, as well as almost 60,000 square kilometers in the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh. The Line of Actual Control, which replaces the border between countries in this region, runs in the Ladakh region. In the autumn of 1962, this dispute even escalated into a border war. A new aggravation began in Ladakh in May 2020, when a series of conflicts between the military of China and India took place in the Pangong Lake area, after which New Delhi and Beijing increased their military presence in the region. After the withdrawal of most of the deployed troops in February 2021, the parties held 16 rounds of negotiations at the level of commanders of the corps stationed in the region. In early September last year, India and China also conducted a new stage of withdrawal of troops on the border in Ladakh in the region of the heights of Gogra and Hot Springs. According to Indian media, about 60,000 people were stationed in these areas on each side.
