Indian and Chinese soldiers were wounded in another violent clash along the Himalayan border last week, while tensions between the two nuclear powers showed no signs of abating.
According to reports, Indian and Chinese troops faced physical coups on Wednesday along the high-altitude border in northern Sikkim, a small Indian state located between India and Bhutan, which has been a focus of the India-China conflict. for decades.
Indian officials said Chinese troops attempted to cross India’s claimed territory in the Naku La area of Sikkim, which led to a skirmish that wounded soldiers on both sides. It is understood that no shots were fired.
A statement from the Indian army called it a “minor confrontation” between the troops of the People’s Liberation Army of India and China (PLA), which was “resolved by local commanders according to established protocols”.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Zhao Lijian, told reporters at a news conference that he had no comment on the confrontation, but asked India to “refrain from actions that could aggravate or complicate the situation over the long run. border”.
The incident marks a continuing worsening of relations between India and China, which have been engaged in an increasingly violent and expensive confrontation along its 2,100-mile border since May.
The tension peaked in June, when 20 Indian soldiers and an unknown number of Chinese soldiers died during a brutal hand-to-hand conflict in the Galwan valley in Ladakh, the worst outbreak of violence between India and China in years. China has been accused of increasing the presence of troops, artillery and infrastructure along the contested border for months and moving to a territory long claimed by India.
Since then, some 100,000 Indian and Chinese soldiers have been stationed along the border in eastern Ladakh, withstanding the hostile mountain temperatures of -40 degrees during the winter months. Disengagement negotiations between Indian and Chinese commanders are now in their ninth round, but a slowdown along the border has not yet been agreed.
Last week, the Indian news channel NDTV published satellite images that showed how China recently built a village with more than 100 houses in a border area in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, which is officially claimed as Indian territory, another sign. of the increase Chinese activity along the border has infuriated Indian and local authorities. China described the village as “building on our own territory”.