India now says 20 killed in clash with China in Himalayas

NEW DELHI — India’s death toll has jumped to 20 after a clash with Chinese troops on the countries’ disputed Himalayan border, where the two sides have been locked in a tense standoff for more than a month, the Indian Army said in a statement Tuesday.

This is believed to be the first deadly confrontation on the border in decades. The death toll rose after troops died of wounds sustained in the fight, according to the statement

An earlier statement from the Indian Army said an officer and two soldiers had been killed in the “violent face-off”  Monday night in the Galwan Valley in the Himalayan region of Ladakh, with casualties on both sides.

“Senior military officials of the two sides are currently meeting at the venue to defuse the situation,” the statement added.

The clash was “a result of an attempt by the Chinese side to unilaterally change the status quo there,” said Anurag Srivastava, a spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, in a statement Tuesday in response to media questions.

Local TV reports said no shots were fired and that the casualties appear to have been the result of hand-to-hand fighting. No details of the possible Chinese casualties have been released. However, Hu Xijin, the editor-in-chief of the Global Times — a newspaper under Chinese Communist Party-run People’s Daily — tweeted: “Based on what I know, Chinese side also suffered casualties in the Galwan Valley physical clash.”

The Global Times quoted a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying that Indian troops had committed a serious violation by illegally crossing the border twice on Monday. The spokesman accused the Indian forces of carrying out provocative attacks, resulting in “serious physical clashes.”

“China has lodged solemn representations with the Indian side and urged it to strictly restrain its front-line troops from crossing the border or taking any unilateral action that may complicate the border situation,” the paper quoted spokesman Zhao Lijian as saying. It added that the two sides had agreed to resolve bilateral issues through dialogue to ease tensions on the border.

Meanwhile, Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh reviewed the border situation in a meeting with Chief of Defense Staff Gen. Bipin Rawat, along with chiefs of the army, navy and air force. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar was also present.

The standoff between the nuclear-armed neighbors began in early May, when Indian and Chinese soldiers confronted each other at Pangong Tso, a lake over 4,000 meters above sea level in Ladakh along the de facto border known as the Line of Actual Control, or LAC. Indian media reported at one point that over 1,000 Chinese soldiers had crossed into India’s territory, but Monday’s incident marks a dangerous escalation.

In the background is an Indian move to lay a road in the region, as part of its efforts to improve infrastructure along the border. This drew sharp objections from China.

The 3,500 km India-China border has long been prone to flare-ups, including a war in 1962. The last serious standoff took place in 2017, at a strategic junction on the Doklam plateau where the boundaries of India, China and Bhutan meet. The Doklam tensions lasted 73 days, the longest such confrontation in decades.

The Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson said India ensures that all its activities are on the Indian side of the LAC, and expects the same of the Chinese side.

India remains firmly convinced of the need for the maintenance of peace and tranquility in the border areas and the resolution of differences through dialogue, Srivastava said. “At the same time, we are also strongly committed to ensuring India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”