The first border incident between China and India in 45 years results in the death of 20 Indian soldiers

The border between China and India heated up this Monday and not exactly because of the imminent arrival of summer. The first military incident between the two nuclear powers in 45 years has left 20 Indian soldiers dead, according to the Efe agency. The Indian Government has assured that the People's Army has also suffered casualties. The local media have reported 35 Chinese victims, although the authorities of the Asian giant have not taken a stand. New Delhi and Beijing had already held a skirmish a month ago and have open jurisdictional conflicts along their nearly 4,000 km border. 

The violent clash that took place on Monday night in the Galwan valley, located in the Aksai Chin region that forms part of the common western border, was reported by the Indian Army in a statement collected by Efe. "Up to 17 Indian soldiers were seriously injured in the line of duty. Exposed in this high-altitude terrain in sub-zero temperatures, they have succumbed to their injuries, bringing the total number of deaths in action to 20," the media report said. 

"The violent confrontation occurred 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 if the Chinese side had scrupulously respected the agreement," Indian Foreign Affairs spokesman Anurag Srivastava said in the statement.

The two countries agreed on Wednesday to resolve the border crisis "responsibly" and through diplomatic channels. According to the communiqué, issued after a telephone conversation between Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, "neither party should take any steps to allow an escalation in this matter, but will ensure peace and tranquillity in accordance with the bilateral agreements and protocols.

With this, the foreign chiefs have committed themselves to implementing an agreement signed by the commanders of the armed forces almost two weeks ago to ease military tension on the Indo-Chinese border, a pact that had as a precedent a brief but "aggressive" skirmish that took place a month ago in the Indian state of Sikkim.

India and China have already had clashes over territorial disputes in the past. Beijing claims the territory of Arunachal Pradesh controlled by New Delhi, which in turn claims the Aksai Chin administered by the neighbouring country. 

In 2017, a crisis occurred between the two nations that had a very negative effect on relations between the two powers. China even accused India of "playing with fire", although there were no fatalities in that episode. Sameer Patil, an Indian analyst specializing in defense at Gateway House, points out that the seriousness of the current situation has to do with the fact that this is one of the most peaceful disputed borders in the world, compared to India and Pakistan. "You have to go back to 1975 to see casualties in the border clash, although there was a war on that in 1962. Since then we have not seen this type of violence," explained Patil in statements collected by the Efe agency. 

India and China have signed several bilateral agreements since 1993 and have held more than 20 rounds of peace talks. The current standoff is due to India's construction of a road in the Galwan Valley, its latest project in years of building infrastructure on both sides of the border region, according to the South China Morning Post. 

On 6 June, after a video conference between diplomats, senior generals from both sides met in Chushul-Moldo in eastern Ladakh. The details of the four-hour discussion were sketchy, although both military officials sent reassuring messages. Last week, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said Beijing had reached a "positive consensus" with Delhi.

But former Indian army colonel Ajai Shukla, in an article for the Business Standard newspaper last weekend, said there was no indication that Chinese troops were withdrawing from the border areas. He cited sources that said the Chinese military was strengthening its control over "some 60 square kilometres of disputed territory that it has illegally occupied" and highlighted other areas along the border where Chinese tanks, armoured vehicles and bunkers had been seen.

The Kremlin on Wednesday expressed its concern about the border clash between China and India that has resulted in the death of twenty Indian soldiers. "We are watching very closely what is happening on the Sino-Indian border and the news coming in is very alarming," Russian presidential spokesman Dmitri Peskov said at his daily press conference.

At the same time, he said that, in Moscow's view, the parties to the conflict "are capable of taking the necessary measures to prevent the repetition of such situations in the future". The Kremlin's press secretary said that both Beijing and New Delhi are "close partners" of Moscow, which has "very close" relations with both based on mutual benefit.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has expressed the same opinion on Wednesday. He said he was aware of talks between the military of both countries to settle the conflict and that he will hold a video conference with his counterparts in India and China on the 22nd, but that there are no plans to address this issue.