Demonstrators hold signs during a protest against China, in Mumbai, India, on Dec. 13.FRANCIS MASCARENHAS/Reuters
Winter is usually a period of relative calm along the hotly disputed China-India border high in the Himalayas. Snow and frigid temperatures make manoeuvring difficult as both sides dig in and wait for the thaw.
As the weather worsened this month, Chinese troops went on what will likely be one of their last excursions of the year, in southern Tibet, near the borders of both India and Bhutan. According to New Delhi, on Dec. 9, about a hundred Chinese soldiers crossed the Line of Actual Control – the de facto border between India and China – into Tawang, a sector in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, before being repulsed in a clash that left soldiers on both sides injured.
Speaking to lawmakers Tuesday, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the “Chinese attempt was contested by our troops in a firm and resolute manner.”
Indian troops forced the People’s Liberation Army patrol “to return to their posts,” he added, accusing China of trying to “unilaterally change the status quo.” Mr. Singh said the clash led to “injuries to a few personnel on both sides” but no “serious casualties” on India’s side.
A spokesman for the PLA, Senior Colonel Long Shaohua, said the Chinese forces were taking part in a “routine patrol” and “encountered obstruction from Indian troops who illegally crossed the LAC.”
Such tit-for-tat blame and denial is common after incidents along the 3,380-kilometre LAC, which is neither properly delineated nor mutually agreed upon. Patrols often cross into what the other side considers its territory, either intentionally or by accident, sometimes triggering violent clashes – though both sides generally avoid carrying guns to keep things from escalating out of control.
The deadliest incident in recent years was in 2020, when hundreds of troops brawled with clubs and other makeshift weapons in Ladakh, part of the disputed Kashmir region. At least 20 Indian and four Chinese troops were killed in that clash, after which both sides set up new military-to-military communications and pulled forces back from the border.
On Dec. 9, Indian troops were pulling back to winter positions, local media reported, after having conducted joint military exercises with the United States in Auli, in Uttarakhand state, near the western part of the disputed border. China said the joint exercises “violated the spirit” of agreements between New Delhi and Beijing and hurt “bilateral trust.”
Mr. Singh urged China to “maintain peace and tranquillity along the border.”
Speaking in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the situation in the border area was “generally stable,” adding that “the two sides have maintained smooth communication on boundary-related issues through diplomatic and military channels.”
While both sides were keen to downplay the latest clash, Shashi Tharoor, a senior member of the opposition Congress party, said the location has special significance among disputed border regions. Speaking outside parliament Tuesday, he said there was “no doubt China has its eyes on Tawang.”
“They want to pre-empt the possibility of a future Dalai Lama being identified at the birthplace of the sixth Dalai Lama,” Mr. Tharoor said on Twitter.
The current, fourteenth Dalai Lama has lived in exile in India since fleeing Chinese-controlled Tibet in 1959. When the 87-year-old dies, the recognition of his successor is guaranteed to be controversial and fought over by Beijing and Tibetan exile groups.
Since 2007, officially atheist China has said that the reincarnation of living Buddhas such as the Dalai Lama is subject to government approval. In the 1990s, Beijing arrested a six-year-old identified as the reincarnated Panchen Lama, the second-highest figure in Tibetan Buddhism, and put forward its own candidate, who exercises the Panchen Lama title within China and sits on an official government body, though he is not recognized by most Tibetans elsewhere.
Tawang is home to the largest Tibetan Buddhist monastery outside Tibet, the head of which is appointed by the Dalai Lama, and would play an important role in recognizing his reincarnation. When the Dalai Lama visited the monastery in 2017, Beijing reacted angrily, saying he had “gravely damaged the peace and stability of the border regions between China and India.”