The killings, first on the border in nearly half a century, have exacerbated tensions in a region simmering with skirmishes since early May.
The two largest populations of the world fought in the 1960s in a bloody confrontation but now the two countries are nuclear weapons and China is the world’s second biggest economy. India is also catching up with the world’s leading economies.
Beijing’s stakes in the region have soared since its massive China Pakistan Economic Corridor, part of the larger Belt Road initiative passes through Kashmir – a bone of contention and disputed territory between Pakistan and India.
Indian and Chinese soldiers do not carry weapons in the area to avoid escalating conflicts. But they have brawled, detained each other and deployed forces and equipment in the western Himalayas during the last two months.
“During the de-escalation process underway in the Galwan Valley, a violent face-off took place yesterday [Monday] night with casualties on both sides,” an Indian army said in a statement on Tuesday afternoon.
The statement said, “senior military officials of the two sides are currently meeting at the venue to defuse the situation”.
Indian media accounts say a violent altercation broke out between the two sides, with stones and wooden rods used as weapons, though no shots were fired. It has been reported by Indian media, but not confirmed by Chinese officials, that at least seven Chinese soldiers were also killed.
Beijing and New Delhi have been locked in a decades-long stalemate over their competing claims to long, uninhabited stretches of the mountain range. China claims more than 90,000 sq km in the eastern Himalayas disputed by Delhi and another 38,000 sq km in the west.
The neighbors fought a full-scale war in the area in 1962, and tensions have flared into armed confrontations several times since, including in 2013 and again four years later at Doklam near India-Bhutan border.
A statement by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs accused China of the sparking the latest confrontation, stating that China had “departed from the consensus to respect the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Galwan valley” and that as a result “on 15 June, 2020, a violent face-off happened as a result of an attempt by the Chinese side to unilaterally change the status quo there.
“Both sides suffered casualties that could have been avoided had the agreement at the high level been scrupulously followed by the Chinese side,” added the statement.
Zhang Shuli, the Chinese army’s commander in the western theatre, said in a statement that on Monday evening Indian forces had crossed the “control line [and] deliberately launched provocative attacks causing both sides to engage in intense physical conflict that resulted in casualties”.
The commander said the incursion was in breach of agreements and understandings between the two sides and “hurt the feelings of the people” in both countries.
“We call on the Indian side to restrict its frontline soldiers, immediately stop all infringement of rights and provocative actions against China and return to using dialogue to resolve disputes,” Zhang said.
