India has reportedly been covering up the frequency and extent of its border clashes with China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in order to prevent the public from panicking.
In the wake of the revelation of their most recent confrontation in the Tawang sector, Senior Indian Army sources told The Telegraph that several incidents occur in the northern state of Arunachal Pradesh every month, wherein soldiers sometimes engage in “violent hand-to-hand combat, often using clubs and other homemade melee weapons.”
“Face-offs with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) have become a common feature along the border in Arunachal Pradesh, particularly in the Yangtse area,” a senior Indian Army officer told the newspaper, adding, “They have happened on average two or three times a month, recently, and the incursions have increased in frequency over the last two years.”
The officer said the Indian Army follows protocol upon encountering Chinese troops, often putting up banners with messages in Mandarin that urge the PLA to fall back. However, these requests are often ignored, the officer said.
The viral video of India China face off is old. Yangtse area during this time of year is covered with snow. But video gives a fair insight of what is a face off. The audio in the video from Indian side is in Punjabi saying, "they won't be back again" (after the beating) pic.twitter.com/ZYzKv9Flqw
— Sidhant Sibal (@sidhant) December 13, 2022
“Sometimes it’s peaceful and sometimes they resist, triggering clashes. Sometimes we have to use stones and rods to push them back,” said the officer.
The source further revealed that Indian troops were under strict orders “from the top” to maintain secrecy regarding its frequent clashes with the PLA.
“The reason seems to be political. It seems the Bharatiya Janata Party wants to play down the crisis with China,” they said.
General Deependra Singh Hooda, the former General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Indian Army's Northern Command, told The Telegraph that it is also “important to hold back information because rushing out with information complicates the subsequent negotiations.”
The opposition wants to convert the clash between personnel of Indian Army and Chinese PLA in Tawang into a tamasha. BJP criticised Nehru after 1962 war, not during the conflict. pic.twitter.com/4bbsXp3Urw
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) December 14, 2022
In a similar vein, Lin Minwang, a professor at the Institute of International Studies of Fudan University, told Chinese state-owned media outlet Global Times on Tuesday that the skirmish “was not surprising.” He added that the most recent scuffle is “unlikely to affect the situation between China and India in the border region.”
Another Indian officer told The Telegraph that China also uses less aggressive methods to encroach on Indian territory, including “send[ing] their herdsmen deep into our territory who create makeshift shelters for themselves.” They noted that the PLA then “lays claim on the territory.”
These revelations follow the two armies’ most recent face-off earlier this month in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang district, during which at least 20 Indian soldiers and “a much higher number on the Chinese side” were injured.
My Statement in Rajya Sabha
— Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) December 13, 2022
https://t.co/Ju3Zyp4DhM
Following the incident, the spokesperson for the PLA’s Western Theater Command, Senior Colonel Long Shaohua, said that the PLA had made a “professional, normative and resolute response” to bring the situation “under control.”
He claimed that the PLA soldiers were merely conducting a “routine patrol” in an area that China calls Dongzhang, when they “encountered obstruction from the Indian troops who illegally crossed the LAC.”
In this regard, Long demanded that New Delhi “strictly discipline and control its front-line troops.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbi said on Tuesday that as per his knowledge, their disputed border areas are “generally stable” and both had “maintained smooth communication” on the matter “through diplomatic and military channels.”
Pentagon says closely watching developments at India-China border; adds,"China continues to amass forces and build military infrastructure along the LAC" pic.twitter.com/5bmHfkFJG7
— Sidhant Sibal (@sidhant) December 14, 2022
Meanwhile, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said during a parliamentary address on Tuesday that the scuffle had broken out due to the PLA’s ‘transgressions’ in the Yangtse area.
He said the Indian soldiers “bravely prevented the PLA from “transgressing into our territory and compelled them to return to their posts.”
He confirmed that there were no deaths or serious injuries on either side and that the two sides disengaged following a flag meeting between the local commanders of the two countries.
“The Chinese side was asked to refrain from such actions and maintain peace and tranquillity along the border. The issue has also been taken up with the Chinese side through diplomatic channels,” Singh remarked.
China May need to recognise that after 2020 thinking in India has changed. Potential for miscalculation by China unless China re-thinks whether it’s basic presumptions about India are still valid. 6/7
— Vijay Gokhale (@VGokhale59) December 13, 2022
Despite India and China’s reassurances, the international community has expressed its concerns about the latest flare-up.
German ambassador Philipp Ackermann on Wednesday said that Berlin is “very concerned.”
‘We should avoid violation at international borders at all times,” he stressed, adding, “There shouldn’t be violence.”
Similarly, United States (US) State Department spokesperson Ned Price said during his press briefing on Tuesday that Washington “strongly oppose(s) any unilateral attempts to advance territorial claims by incursions, military or civilian, across the border at the established Line of Actual Control.” He urged the neighbours to “utilise existing bilateral channels to discuss disputed boundaries.”
Against this backdrop, former Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale wrote for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace this week that Chinese scholars may also need to revisit the opinion that it can challenge India’s territorial sovereignty via low-level coercion.
He remarked that India is shedding its aversion to risk and is growing “more willing and committed to enhancing military capacity in preparation for the situation of armed coexistence that it expects to prevail along the LAC.”
“Judging India’s future responses and behaviour on the basis of current capacity may not be valid,” he warned.