# Defence ministers meet amid escalating tensions
Source URL: 	https://www.theage.com.au/world/asia/indian-chinese-defence-ministers-meet-amid-border-tensions-20200905-p55soj.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed
Date: 		20200905T0233

Troops on both sides are aggressively deployed in the Karakorum
mountains in the Ladakh region. The two Asian giants share thousands of
kilometres of disputed border. Both have accused the other of fresh
provocations, including allegations of soldiers crossing into each
other’s territory this week and an unconfirmed death, and vowed to
protect their territorial integrity.

The two nations fought a border war in 1962 that also spilled into
Ladakh and ended in an uneasy truce. Since then, troops from opposing
sides have guarded the undefined mountain border area, occasionally
brawling. They have agreed not to attack each other with firearms.

Rival soldiers brawled bitterly in May, and in June fought with clubs,
stones and fists, leaving 20 Indian soldiers dead. China did not report
any casualties, although unconfirmed reports based on photos of new
burial grounds say Chinese losses may have topped three dozen.

India’s army chief General MM Naravane visited the region on Thursday
and Friday. He met with soldiers and local commanders deployed in
difficult high altitude terrain, an Indian Defence Ministry statement
said.

Earlier this week, [India said its soldiers had thwarted “provocative”
movements by China’s military][1] over the last weekend. In turn,
[China’s Defence Ministry accused Indian troops of crossing][2]
established lines of control and creating provocations along the
disputed border.

The Line of Actual Control, the disputed and unmarked 3500-kilometre
border between India and China, stretches from the Ladakh region in the
north to the Indian state of Sikkim.

The stand-off is over disputed portions of a pristine landscape that
boasts the world’s highest landing strip, a glacier that feeds one of
the largest irrigation systems in the world, and is a critical link in
China’s massive Belt and Road infrastructure project.

Accusing each other of instigating the violence, both sides have pledged
to safeguard their territory but also try to end the stand-off, which
has dramatically changed the India-China relationship.

Several rounds of military and diplomatic talks on the crisis have been
unsuccessful.

 **AP**

   [1]: /link/follow-20170101-p55r1u
   [2]: /link/follow-20170101-p55rcg