Video shows Chinese and Indian troops clashing with stones high along their border in the Himalayas

pulse

August 20, 2017 11:22 PM

Chinese and Indian troops came to blows in the western Himalayas on August 15 amid another border dispute between the two countries farther east.

A still image of Indian and Chinese troops clashing on the border in the eastern Himalayas, August 15, 2017.

Indian and Chinese troops clashed in a melee high in the western Himalayas on August 15, adding to simmering tensions along the two countries' shared border.

Chinese troops reportedly tried to enter Indian territory twice that day, according to an Indian defense official.

They were pushed back both times but threw stones at Indian troops during the exchange, which took place near Pangong Lake, a tourist attraction in the mountain region of Ladakh.

The lake — of which India claims about one-third and China the rest — is more than 13,000 feet high on the Tibetan plateau and lies in the northern Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, at the eastern extent of China and India's 2,175-mile mountain border.

A police official in the state said that confrontations along the de facto border, called the Line of Actual Control, were relatively common.

"These things happen every summer but this one was slightly prolonged and more serious but no weapons were used," a police source in the state capital, Srinagar, told AFP.

"Use of stones unprecedented and unusual. Appears to be deliberate attempt to provoke and heighten tension without use of lethal weapons," the assessment said. Steel bars and rifle butts were also used during the tussle.

The contentious but nonviolent confrontation in the Doklam territory — known as Donglang in Chinese — near the two countries' border with Bhutan started in mid-June, when New Delhi dispatched troops to stop Chinese construction of a road in the area, which is claimed by both China and Bhutan.

An Indian official said New Delhi had no choice but to act, as Chinese activity had come too close for comfort. New Delhi has also said both sides should withdraw their forces before any proper negotiation.

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