Posted on 09/08/2020 8:00:08 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
China and India have accused each other of firing shots on their flashpoint Himalayan border in a further escalation of military tension between the nuclear-armed Asian rivals.
The relationship between the two countries has deteriorated since a hand-to-hand combat clash in the Ladakh region on June 15 in which 20 Indian troops were killed.
Experts fear the latest incident will intensify a months-long standoff between the Asian giants that erupted in late April.
Beijing's defence ministry accused India of "severe military provocation", saying soldiers crossed the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the western border region on Monday and "opened fire to threaten the Chinese border defence patrol officers".
"According to the Chinese side, Chinese troops approached the India side for negotiations, and then they say some Indian troops fired at the Chinese side," Al Jazeera's Katrina Yu reported from Beijing.
"As a result, China's military said it was forced to take countermeasures - although we don't know what those countermeasures were, or if there were any casualties," she added.
New Delhi was swift to give its own account, accusing Chinese border forces of "blatantly violating agreements" and firing "a few rounds in the air" to intimidate their Indian rivals.
"It is the PLA that has been blatantly violating agreements and carrying out aggressive manoeuvres," the Indian army said in a statement on Tuesday.
"Despite the grave provocation, (our) own troops exercised great restraint and behaved in a mature and responsible manner," the statement said.
Al Jazeera's Elizabeth Puranam, reporting from New Delhi said that, according to India, "China's army was trying to close in on one of India's positions - and that when they [China] were dissuaded by their own troops, they fired in the air".
(Excerpt) Read more at aljazeera.com ...
Have a great day.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.