[WSMDiscuss] Border Clash between India and China - Deadliest in Decades, in the Galwan Valley: Full Statements from the two Armies and a Third-Party Comment

[Sukla Sen]

[The Modi regime - together with its drumbeaters, busy projecting its 56"
image, will not like to admit to any buckling down before the much superior
Chinese armed might.

One only hopes that there'll be no further escalation and a peaceful, just
and durable settlement.

Such disputes, regardless of the countries involved, should ideally be
adjudicated and mediated by a neutral international entity - maybe the UN.
That appears to be the only sensible way.

<<* The possibility of a broader armed conflict between India and China is
unlikely, analysts said, despite an escalation in recent border clashes
high in the Himalayas that led to casualties for the first time in more
than four decades.
* India’s foreign ministry said a “violent face-off” occurred on Monday
evening along the border in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh, where soldiers
from both sides have been locked in a standoff since last month.
* Both countries face a number of domestic challenges that are likely to
preoccupy the focus for New Delhi and Beijing — including an economic
fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.>>

(Excerpted from sl. no. III below.)]

I/III.
https://thelogicalindian.com/news/20-indian-soldiers-killed-in-ladakh-clash-with-china-21728

India-China Faceoff: Army Confirms Disengagement Of Troops In Ladakh's
Galwan, 20 Indian Soldiers Killed In Action

According to media reports considered to be the most violent faceoff
between the two armies in five decades, the hand-to-hand combat took place
for over six hours on Monday night between the two armies.

Palak Agrawal (Digital Journalist)

India   |   17 Jun 2020 / Updated : 3 Hrs ago

Editor : Shubhendu Deshmukh | Creatives : Abhishek M

The Indian Army on Tuesday, June 16, issued an official statement on the
"violent faceoff" that took place between the Indian and Chinese troops at
the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh's Galwan valley on June 15.

The statement informed that both sides have disengaged at the Galwan area
where they had earlier clashed.

"Indian and Chinese troops have disengaged at the Galwan area where they
had earlier clashed on the night of 15/16 June 2020. 17 Indian troops who
were critically injured in the line of duty at the standoff location and
exposed to sub-zero temperatures in the high altitude terrain have
succumbed to their injuries, taking the total that were killed in action to
20. Indian Army is firmly committed to protect the territorial integrity
and sovereignty of the nation," the Army said in a statement.

According to the statement, twenty Indian soldiers including a commanding
officer of an infantry battalion lost their lives in the violent clash with
their Chinese counterpart.

In its initial statement, the army had announced that an officer and two
soldiers had been killed in action. By evening, the authorities updated
that 17 Indian troops who were critically injured who later succumbed to
injuries and cold in the freezing, high-elevation terrain.

Reportedly, the Chinese army had also suffered significant casualties
during the conflict, the numbers have not been confirmed yet.

The Ministry of External Affairs' spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said the
face-off took place in Galwan valley where the Chinese side "departed from
the consensus to respect the LAC (Line of Actual Control)" and attempted to
"unilaterally change the status quo".

Considered to be the most violent faceoff between the two armies in five
decades, News18 reported that brutal hand-to-hand combat took place for
over six hours on Monday night between the two armies.

People's Liberation Army (PLA) had troops armed with iron rods and sticks
wrapped in barbed wire hunting and killing the troops of the 16 Bihar
Regiment, take the Indian side by surprise.

16 Bihar Regiment's commanding officer, Colonel Santosh Babu was one of the
soldiers who was martyred during the aggressive face-off, informed the
Indian Army in its statement.

The publication further stated that even unarmed men who fled into the
hillsides were "hunted down and killed."

According to The Indian Express, the clashes took place after an argument
over the position of Chinese soldiers who had erected a new post/tent on
the southern bank of Galwan river in a 'buffer zone' which was a noman's
land.

"Both sides suffered casualties that could have been avoided had the
agreement at the higher level been scrupulously followed by the Chinese
side," Srivastava said.

On June 6, during a meeting both the sides had reportedly agreed on a
process for de-escalation.

II/III.
https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1191815.shtml

PLA Western Theater Command urges Indian army to stop provocative action on
border
Source:Global Times Published: 2020/6/16 20:27:07

Photo: Xinhua

A Chinese military spokesperson said on Tuesday that Indian troops have
broke[n] their promises and again crossed the line of actual control in the
Galwan Valley region on Monday evening and purposely launched provocative
attacks, leading to severe clashes and casualties.

China always owns sovereignty over the Galwan Valley region, and the Indian
border defense troops are inconsistent with their words and seriously
violated the agreements both countries have reached, the consensus made
during the army commander-level talks and harmed the relations of the two
militaries and the feelings of the two countries' peoples, said Chinese
People's Liberation Army (PLA) Western Theater Command spokesperson Senior
Colonel Zhang Shuili on Tuesday.

India should stop all provocative actions, meet the Chinese side halfway
and come back to the right path of solving disputes through talks, Zhang
said.

III.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/17/india-china-border-standoff-analysts-say-war-is-unlikely.html#:~:text=The%20possibility%20of%20a%20broader,in%20more%20than%20four%20decades
.

Wider armed conflict between India and China unlikely after ‘violent’
border clash

PUBLISHED TUE, JUN 16 202011:12 PM EDTUPDATED 27 MIN AGO

Saheli Roy Choudhury
@SAHELIRC

KEY POINTS
The possibility of a broader armed conflict between India and China is
unlikely, analysts said, despite an escalation in recent border clashes
high in the Himalayas that led to casualties for the first time in more
than four decades.
India’s foreign ministry said a “violent face-off” occurred on Monday
evening along the border in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh, where soldiers
from both sides have been locked in a standoff since last month.
Both countries face a number of domestic challenges that are likely to
preoccupy the focus for New Delhi and Beijing — including an economic
fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
An Indian Border Security Force soldier erects a bunker near a check post
along the Srinagar-Leh National highway on June 16, 2020.

An Indian Border Security Force soldier erects a bunker near a check post
along the Srinagar-Leh National highway on June 16, 2020.
Faisal Khan | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

The possibility of a wider armed conflict between India and China is
unlikely, analysts said, despite an escalation in recent border clashes
high in the Himalayas that led to casualties for the first time in more
than four decades.

India’s foreign ministry said a “violent face-off” occurred on Monday
evening along the border in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh, where soldiers
from both sides have been locked in a standoff since last month. Senior
army officials from both sides met on June 6 in efforts to de-escalate the
situation.

“On the late-evening and night of 15th 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 higher level been scrupulously
followed by the Chinese side,” Anurag Srivastava, official spokesperson for
the Indian foreign ministry, said.

The Indian army said in a statement that 20 of its soldiers were killed and
that troops from both sides have now disengaged.

China’s foreign ministry confirmed there had been a “violent physical
confrontation” at the border but made no mention of casualties and said
there’s been a serious violation of the consensus reached by the two sides,
Reuters reported.

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army said Indian border troops “reneged on
their commitments” and “seriously violated agreements and protocols” on
border issues between the two sides.

The clash was unexpected given that the two sides were having serious
dialogue about disengagement, said Harsh V. Pant, head of the strategic
studies program at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi.

If talks at the military and foreign ministry level are flailing, a
conversation between Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi is likely to prevent a
major fallout.
Kelsey Broderick
CHINA ANALYST AT EURASIA GROUP
“Clearly, the crisis was there on the borders, but the two sides were
trying to resolve it, and it had seemed at one point, in the last few days,
that disengagement process has started,” he told CNBC’s “Street Signs” on
Wednesday.

War isn’t likely
With both sides accusing each other of violating the June 6 agreement, it
will be harder to push forward with previously agreed upon de-escalation
moves, Kelsey Broderick, China analyst at consultancy Eurasia Group, said
in a note.

“The fact that the 15 June incident, despite the fatalities, did not boil
over into a larger conflict is one positive signal that higher-ups on both
sides are not interested in sparking any kind of war,” Broderick said.

She explained that India and China are likely to return to de-escalation,
but that the process will take “significantly longer,” with a higher risk
of another flare-up as both governments have to tackle hardened domestic
attitudes against the other side and resist calls for retaliation.

“If talks at the military and foreign ministry level are flailing, a
conversation between (President) Xi Jinping and (Prime Minister) Narendra
Modi is likely to prevent a major fallout,” Broderick said.

Still, analysts expect that there remains a risk of future border clashes
turning into larger armed clashes, particularly if thousands of soldiers
continue to face each other along the disputed border area.

Domestic challenges
Both countries face a number of domestic challenges that are likely to
preoccupy New Delhi and Beijing — including the economic fallout from the
coronavirus pandemic.

China is experiencing a resurgence of infections in Beijing, where more
than 100 new cases were reported in recent days. Authorities have reimposed
restrictions to stop the virus from spreading. The world’s second-largest
economy is also managing a deteriorating relationship with the United
States.

The risk of miscalculation aside, we believe there is little appetite to
beat the war drum.
Miha Hribernik
HEAD OF ASIA FOR RISK INSIGHT AT VERISK MAPLECROFT
India for its part is one of the most-affected countries in the world, with
more than 340,000 reported cases, despite imposing a strict national
lockdown between late-March and the end of May.

“The risk of miscalculation aside, we believe there is little appetite to
beat the war drum,” Miha Hribernik, head of Asia for risk insight at Verisk
Maplecroft, wrote in a note.

“Nevertheless, neither Modi nor Xi can afford to completely back down in
what is an exceedingly complex and long-standing sovereignty dispute,”
Hribernik said. “We accordingly expect tensions along the disputed border
areas to continue to simmer during the rest of the year, with neither side
willing to pull back completely, but with little enthusiasm for further
escalation.”

India is building a strategic road through the Galwan Valley in Ladakh and
connecting the region to an airstrip, the Associated Press reported — a
move China opposes.

Future of bilateral ties
The latest violent clash is expected to further deteriorate bilateral ties
between India and China.

Eurasia Group’s Broderick said that skirmishes like the one on Monday are
likely to become more frequent as “China asserts more territorial claims
and India starts to push back against Chinese incursions.”

Already, there’s growing anti-China sentiment in India, with calls to
boycott Chinese products growing louder. New Delhi also introduced
restrictive measures on Chinese foreign direct investments.


WATCH NOW
VIDEO02:26
China is losing its relationship with India and the U.S., says expert on
border tensions
China is losing its relationship with two of the most important countries
in the world, according to Jonathan Ward, founder of strategic advisory
firm Atlas Organization.

“It’s lost its relationship with the United States, during the trade war,
during the Covid-19 pandemic. And it has lost its relationship with India,
effectively,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Wednesday, adding that India’s
view of China has hardened publicly and likely in the government, too.

Observer Research Foundation’s Pant said the relatively high reported death
toll, with at least 20 Indian soldiers dead, is set to change the dynamic
of the India-China relationship for a very long time, particularly on the
economic front. He explained that though China is India’s largest trading
partner, and Chinese investments are significant in the Indian technology
sector, New Delhi is likely to shift its approach.

“There’ll be costs on India and there’ll be costs on the larger ecosystem
that India is trying to create,” Pant said. He added that India will likely
strengthen its ties with the U.S. and other “like-minded” countries in the
region, including Japan, Australia, and Vietnam.
-- 
Peace Is Doable




-- 
Peace Is Doable
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