Indian, Chinese troops clash at border in fresh face-off

Soldiers from India and China clashed last week along their disputed border, India’s defense minister said Tuesday, in the latest violence along the contested frontier since June 2020, when troops from both countries were killed in a deadly brawl.

Rajnath Singh, who addressed lawmakers in parliament, said Friday’s encounter along the Tawang sector of eastern Arunachal Pradesh state started when Chinese troops “encroached into Indian territory” and “unilaterally tried to change the status quo” along the disputed border near Yangtze.

Singh said no Indian soldiers were seriously hurt and troops from both sides withdrew from the area soon afterward.

Singh said local military commanders met Sunday to discuss the dispute and the Indian government spoke to China through diplomatic channels. There was no immediate comment from the Chinese side.

On Monday, a statement from the Indian Army said troops from both sides suffered minor injuries during the Friday clash.

For decades, India and China have fiercely contested the Line of Actual Control, a loose demarcation that separates Chinese and Indian held territories from Ladakh in the west to India’s eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims in its entirety.

India and China fought a war over the border in 1962.