Five things to note about the India-China border impasse
India and China, two nuclear-armed Asian bordering, are in a tense diplomatic and military impasse exceeding their first deadly border clash in more than 40 years.
The June 15 occurrencein the disputed Galwan Valley, an arid Himalayan area along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the de facto border between the two nations, left 20 Indian soldiers dead. China has yet to officially declare its casualties.
Indian and Chinese troops have been engaged in the impasse since early May at several points along the 3,500km (2,200-mile) LAC, most of which remains undemarcated.
The escalated tensions between the world’s two most populous countries have drawn international concerns, with the United Nations urging both sides “to exercise maximum restraint”.
The fighting on June 15 was triggered by a disagreement over two Chinese tents and observation towers that Indian officials said had been built on its side of the LAC.
Chinese troops breached the Line to set up temporary “structures” in the Galwan Valley even after military officials had reached an agreement on June 6 to de-escalate, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told China’s senior diplomat, Wang Yi, in a phone call.
The problem arose when an Indian patrol visited the area near a ridge to verify a Chinese assertion that its troops had moved back from the LAC, two government sources told Reuters news agency.
The Chinese troops had become less in number, leaving behind two tents and small observation posts, which the Indian party demolished, the sources said.
Source___Aljazeera
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