BEIJING: Both India and China blame each other for the clash in a disputedHimalayan region that left 20 Indian soldiers dead and more than 70 injured.
This June 18, 2020 satellite photo shows the reported site of a fatal clashbetween Indian and Chinese troops in the Galwan River Valley in the Ladakhregion near the Line of Actual Control in the Himalayas.
China said the Galwan Valley high up in Himalayan border region whereChinese and Indian troops engaged in a deadly brawl this week fallsentirely within China, boldly laying claim to the disputed area as theAsian giants continued using military and diplomatic channels to reducetensions.
The confrontation in the Galwan Valley, part of the disputed Ladakh regionalong the Himalayan frontier, was the deadliest in 45 years.
India blames China for instigating the fight by developing infrastructurein the valley, which it said was a breach of the agreement of what arearemained in dispute.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said in a statement onFriday that “the Galwan Valley is located on the Chinese side of the Lineof Actual Control in the west section of the China-India boundary”.
He blamed incursions by Indian troops in the area from early May for amidnight clash on Monday that left 20 Indian soldiers dead. China has notsaid whether its side suffered any casualties.
Soldiers brawled with clubs, rocks and their fists in the thin air at 4,270metres above sea level, but no shots were fired, Indian officials havesaid. The soldiers carry firearms but are not allowed to use them under aprevious agreement in the border dispute.
Indian security officials have said the fatalities were caused by severeinjuries and exposure to subfreezing temperatures.
The valley falls within a remote stretch of the 3,380-kilometre Line ofActual Control, the border established following a war between India andChina in 1962 that resulted in an uneasy truce.
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India’s External Affairs Ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava declined tocomment on China’s claim to the valley. But Prime Minister Narendra Modisaid in a meeting with political opposition leaders on Friday that “neitheranyone has intruded into our territory, nor took over any post”.
Modi said India was “hurt and angry” about the deaths of its troops. Hesaid India wanted peace and friendship, but had the “capability that no onecan even dare look towards an inch of our land”.
Also on Friday, Zhao said that China was not holding any Indian soldiers,without addressing media reports that China released 10 of them lateThursday.
“My information is that at present there are no Indian personnel detainedon the Chinese side,” Zhao said, according to an English version of hisdaily briefing posted on the ministry website.
Indian officials have denied that any soldiers were in Chinese custody.
Earlier reports, based on the ministry’s simultaneous translation at thebriefing, said that Zhao had said that India had not seized any Indiansoldiers.
The later version posted on the ministry’s website leaves open thepossibility that Indian troops were being held earlier.
Indian officials have denied that their soldiers were in Chinese custody.
Courtesy: (TRTWorld)
