Troops from India and China clashed last week along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the de facto border between the two countries in India’s northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, officials said Monday.
An official statement issued by a defense spokesman Monday evening said that on Dec. 9 in the Tawang Sector, a “face-off led to minor injuries to a few personnel from both sides.”
The statement said that both sides immediately disengaged from the area, Anadolu agency reported.
As a follow-up of the incident, the Indian commander in the area “held a flag meeting with his counterpart to discuss the issue in accordance with structured mechanisms to restore peace and tranquility,” the statement said
There has been no statement so far from the Chinese side on the matter.
Tensions at the border eased after several rounds of talks, and the two sides stepped back. But the situation has not yet been fully resolved and the two sides have increased military deployments at the border.
Monday’s statement also noted that “in certain areas along the LAC in the Tawang Sector in Arunachal Pradesh there are areas of differing perception wherein both sides patrol the area up to their claim lines.”
“This has been the trend since 2006,” it added.
China and India share a disputed 3,440km (2,100 mile) long de facto border – called the Line of Actual Control, or LAC – which is poorly demarcated. The presence of rivers, lakes and snowcaps means the line can shift. The soldiers on either side – representing two of the world’s largest armies – come face to face at many points.
Tensions sometimes escalate into skirmishes. However both sides have been trying to de-escalate since a major battle in June 2020 in the Galwan Valley in the Ladakh region much further to the west – where 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese soldiers died.
That battle – fought with sticks and clubs, not guns – was the first fatal confrontation between the two sides in the the area for 45 years.
Another face-off in January 2021 left troops on both sides injured. It took place along the border between China and India’s Sikkim state, which is sandwiched between Bhutan and Nepal.
In September both countries agreed to disengage from at a disputed area along a remote western Himalayan border area, with both sides beginning troop withdrawals.
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