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Indian and Chinese troops clashed briefly on a disputed area of land in the Himalayas, officials said on Wednesday, exacerbating tensions during a months-long stand-off between the two armies.
Chinese troops threw stones at Indian soldiers near Pangong Lake, a major tourist attraction in the picturesque mountain region of Ladakh on Tuesday, an Indian defence official said.
He said Chinese soldiers had twice tried to enter the Indian territory but had been pushed back.
“There was a minor incident. There was some stone pelting from the Chinese side but the situation was quickly brought under control,” he told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The brief confrontation was resolved after Indian and Chinese sides retreated to their respective positions, he added.
Police in the north Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, where Ladakh is located, said clashes were relatively common along the de facto border known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
“These things happen every summer but this one was slightly prolonged and more serious but no weapons were used,” a police source in Srinagar told AFP.
The Pangong lake area lies over 4,000 metres high on the Tibetan plateau.
The latest incident comes amid an ongoing dispute between the two sides over a strategic Himalayan plateau thousands of kilometres away where hundreds of Indian and Chinese soldiers have been facing off against each other for more than two months.
The border trouble began in June when Chinese soldiers started to extend a road through the Doklam territory ─ known as “Donglang” in Chinese.
The area is disputed between China and Bhutan.
India, a close ally of Bhutan, then deployed troops to stop the construction project, prompting Beijing to accuse India of trespassing on Chinese soil.
China has said India must withdraw its troops before any proper negotiation takes place. India said both sides should withdraw their forces together.
The plateau is strategically significant as it gives China access to the so-called “chicken's neck” ─ a thin strip of land connecting India's northeastern states with the rest of the country.
The two nuclear-armed neighbours fought a brief war in 1962 in India's border state of Arunachal Pradesh.
Tensions along the LAC rose in 2014 when Chinese soldiers moved into territory claimed by India, sparking a two-week military stand-off that overshadowed a visit by China's President Xi Jinping.
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Comments (48) Closed
Aug 16, 2017 10:43am
This is the real China one should be careful about while dealing with them. For reasons unknown to the world they are after grabbing land which they consider as an long term assets.
World Bank has already expressed apprehensions about recessionary pressure on Chinese economy. US has been taking steps to bring sanction on trade and China has come out with strong reaction.
India has slowly started anti dumping duties on import and 2x2 negotiation with US on economy and security measures , similar to India vis a vis Japan.
China which can support North Korea ,China which can pressurise Shri Lanka to convert loans to commercial rate, China which can be antagonistic towards Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong ,Japan , South Korea !!
India with the help of Iran , Afghanistan , Bangladesh etc is trying to put alternative to China's OBOR Initiative thereby increasing tug of war in the Region
High time Pak India Afganistan Iran join hands and increase trade and support each other's economy.
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Aug 16, 2017 10:46am
So Chinese also entering in to stone age ..
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Aug 16, 2017 11:21am
Stone pelters in PLA uniform? Something very odd.
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Aug 16, 2017 11:21am
End of the communist Regime Begins. Democratic Values must prevails to save the Planet.
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Aug 16, 2017 11:23am
I laughed for couple of minute after reading this news,china is confused all the way.
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Aug 16, 2017 11:26am
Many readers will not be knowing that there is a "Border Defence Cooperation Agreement between India and China" whose Article VIII states: "The two sides agree that if the border defence forces of the two sides come to a face-to-face situation in areas where there is no common understanding of the line of actual control, both sides shall exercise maximum self-restraint, refrain from any provocative actions, not use force or threaten to use force against the other side, treat each other with courtesy and prevent exchange of fire or armed conflict." So china is not firing bullets ...
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Aug 16, 2017 11:30am
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarked in Russia that not a single bullet has been fired at Sino-India border in the last 40 years despite the simmering boundary dispute between the two neighbours.Record goes on and ON..
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Aug 16, 2017 11:33am
There are no permanent enemies and friends in international relations but only interests. But most of the Pakistanis don't understand this.
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Aug 16, 2017 11:41am
We don't need another war in the region. China has shown great restraint but for how long only time will tell. Using stones doesn't mean they have run out of bullets.
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Aug 16, 2017 11:59am
@AdNan 2 I think we should remain neutral. Yes China is a friend but India need not be our perpetual enemy. China is neutral on Kashmir , why should we openly side with them on their dispute with India ?
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Aug 16, 2017 12:02pm
Now India is looking towards western powers to pressurised China to settle down distpute and give passage to withdraw its forces to avoid humiliation in fornt of whole the indian nation which they usually have sweet dreams.
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Aug 16, 2017 12:02pm
Both nations are poking each other.
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Aug 16, 2017 12:03pm
India has collectively invited all leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the group of ten countries in that region, to be the chief guests at its 2018 Republic Day celebrations. All ten countries have, “in principle”, accepted they will send their heads of state or government to the event.
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Aug 16, 2017 12:14pm
Consequence of China's misadventure will have effect on it's ally North Korea first and then South China Sea and Indian ocean, apart from trade dispute with America and Indian, they will have a oppression from it's colonial areas
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Aug 16, 2017 12:32pm
I'm happy that China and India has not fired at each other. Thank God they both are showing restraint. China I'm proud of you for not retaliating and open up other disputes on SinoIndo border.
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Aug 16, 2017 12:58pm
@Imtiaz Ali Khan: More than China, it's India who's showing the restraint notwithstanding the provocations.
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Aug 16, 2017 01:43pm
In Doklam, it is India that sent their armed troops over to the Chinese side of the border; this is clearly a very aggressive action, even if the border is disputed.
It is essential, to restore trust, that the Indians withdraw their troops unilaterally.
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Aug 16, 2017 02:13pm
@Sanjay If democracy can bring likes of D. Trump and N. Modi to power then there is no much difference in any form of government!!!
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Aug 16, 2017 02:13pm
@HughSlaman It is well known that the Chinese are infringing on Bhutan's territory - everyone but the Chinese acknowledge this fact. Indians are not going anywhere till the Chinese stop their road building activity in Bhutan and revert to status quo.
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Aug 16, 2017 02:16pm
"Every generation of literate Indians is inculcated with that false sense of national oppression by the cartographic image showing broad areas of Indian territory 'occupied' by China, with reminders that Beijing’s maps reveal an intention to seize even more... Time, weather and probably local human mischief will have obliterated the border markers [from 1890] but the careful verbal description in the Treaty prevails to prove that the local Indian commander, with or without higher orders, has blatantly moved forces into what is now Chinese territory. Beijing, sorely chafed already by India’s recent repeated provocations, appears to have decided that this is too much, and has itself adopted the absolutist Nehruvian position of 'no discussion without withdrawal'."
"The Indian attempt to depict this confrontation as tripartite should be disregarded. Bhutan is not an independent actor, is rather an Indian glove-puppet."
Neville Maxwell, This Is India's China War, Round Two, Jul 14, 2017
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Aug 16, 2017 02:19pm
There is a dispute between Bhuttan and China and India as a proxy of US is interfering in the border dispute of these China and Bhuttan.
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Aug 16, 2017 02:20pm
Soldiers dont pelt stones.
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Aug 16, 2017 02:20pm
@HughSlaman....Isnt China doing the same to its neighbours in the South China sea...
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Aug 16, 2017 03:18pm
@MAD " Soldiers dont pelt stones."
Read Indian Express or Hindustan Times , they have traded blows and Chinese Foreign Minister says they are not aware . Yesterday they refused to join the Flag Meeting !!
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Aug 16, 2017 03:46pm
@Muhammad Kashif Khan Very good observation. Peaceful Chinese are just trying to defend their territory from greedy neighbors including the small nations in the SE Asia who want to gobble up the south china sea that obviously belongs to China as the name says. Only Pakistan has principled relation with China.
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Aug 16, 2017 03:58pm
@Muhammad Kashif Khan we Indian dont need lecture of Neville Maxwell, in this matter. problem with some people is that they consider even road type white or Western writer great specialist. India would do any thing for protecting its territory.
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Aug 16, 2017 04:18pm
China is frustrated with Doklam issue and start throwing stones. China should use their sense and cool down their mind and should show mature behavior.
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Aug 16, 2017 04:25pm
@Muhammad Kashif Khan
The Henderson Brooks-Bhagat report is 50 years old report ....and he is not the sole commentator on the subject though he tries to be one. Old man won't change his stand on the matter. He is free to express what he wants to highlight.
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Aug 16, 2017 04:31pm
@Shuaib
Democracy with federal structure of the Government will address your concerns.
In Pakistan ....Punjab Province decides the fate and destiny together.
May be you are comparing that with Federal Structure combined with Upper House / Lower House of Parliamentary functioning with Presidential Type .
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Aug 16, 2017 04:57pm
In reality, the Indian troops are sitting there for the last two months. And China is not doing anything! Is China scared of much weaker Indian forces?
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Aug 16, 2017 05:06pm
@guest By the standard of your highly esteemed intellectual analysis, Indian ocean should belong to India. Thanks very much indeed. You should be anointed to a position of international sea dispute tribunals.
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Aug 16, 2017 05:15pm
Basically the area is disputed between China and Bhutan, but as usual India interfering in the internal matters of two sovereign countries. UN should take notice of India's interference.
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Aug 16, 2017 06:44pm
@GUEST
@Muhammad Kashif Khan Very good observation. Peaceful Chinese are just trying to defend their territory from greedy neighbors including the small nations in the SE Asia who want to gobble up the south china sea that obviously belongs to China as the name says. Only Pakistan has principled relation with China.
Since there must be a lot of Americans who have the same amount of wisdom as you do, Trump was voted to power.:):):)
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Aug 16, 2017 07:16pm
@Bootedspoken like a colonized person! Well done!
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Aug 16, 2017 10:56pm
@Shahbaz khan well the word humiliation you should be used to the meaning of that word .
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Aug 17, 2017 12:38am
Earlier there was fist fighting at Doklam, now
stone throwing. Must stop now & talk.
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Aug 17, 2017 05:11am
None of those troops on either side are happy about serving there. A fight could break out.
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Aug 17, 2017 09:44am
@Random Indian- The territory is disputed, cannot say they are infringing on Bhutan territory. Tomorrow Chinese troops can enter another border disputed area with India and sit there. Things have gone very wrong with the Indian action.
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Aug 17, 2017 11:51am
Tired of their everyday chinese media mongerings. Can we start the war pls. if china has balls ?
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Aug 17, 2017 02:35pm
@Dinesh Singh Yes, as per experiences of 1962, they prefer AK47s!
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Aug 17, 2017 02:57pm
@SR Khan It is better to keep away when the facts are not known. Else the world comes to know how stupid we are.
Bhutan does not have an army of its own. It is defended by India.
Further, Bhutan has time and again listed the fact that it is Bhutan's territory, which China (as with 22 other countries) is infringing.
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Aug 18, 2017 06:56am
India is no pushover.
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Aug 18, 2017 09:34am
Glad to see India and China maturely handling their border perceptions - real and imagined. It is now time for them to demarcate and formalize their border - otherwise it will continue to remain a 'moving frontier' that is open to abuse and transgression. It appears the Chinese like the status quo as they can claim neighbor territories that supposedly belonged to some ancient dynasty. In the end, it is a lack of vision and statesmanship on both sides. But given Chinese expansionism and over-reach in the Asia-Pacific region and also with its border disputes with Vietnam, Mongolia, Russia et al, one can understand why India is rightfully very wary of the Han Huns, and willing to defend its territory without apology.
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Aug 18, 2017 11:48am
@Dinesh Singh
This is the so called modernization of the PLA.
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Aug 18, 2017 12:26pm
Thank you accepting the North Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir.
The reality can never be hidden. Ultimately it will come one day.
Thanks Dawn. Your reputation is increased today.
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Aug 18, 2017 01:30pm
@Shuaib What wrong did Modi do, he has support of the majority of Indians. He has made it clear that he and his party do not support religious intolerance and any form of communal viol
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Aug 18, 2017 01:32pm
@javed True
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Aug 18, 2017 02:03pm
@gupta will you go and fight
Easy to say when your fingers are on typewriters and not facing up to the chinese in the mountains
your family loses nothing mate but some else's does
so cut the foolish jingoism and pray everything is sttled without any bllodshed
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