The Indian foreign minister has indicated that the country has increased the number of soldiers on the border with China to an unprecedented level, writes BBC.
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has announced that India will not allow China to unilaterally change the status of the border, and this announcement follows a clash between Indian and Chinese forces in the disputed border area on the 9th of December. India says the conflict started because Chinese soldiers crossed the border. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that the situation at the border is stable, and both sides are maintaining dialogue.
India and China share a 3,440-kilometer border that is mostly poorly marked. Soldiers from both sides come face to face in many places, and tensions sometimes escalate into arguments and fights. Both countries have been trying to de-escalate the situation on the border since the violent clashes that took place in June 2020, which led to the death of 20 Indian and at least four Chinese soldiers.
After the December 9 clash, which ended with minor injuries, both Chinese and Indian forces immediately left the area. Jaishankar said in a press conference:
«Today, you have a deployment of the Indian Army on China border that we never had. It is done to counter Chinese aggression. The Indian Army today is deployed to counter any attempt to unilaterally change the border.»
The border clash has caused a political uproar in India, with opposition party members walking out of parliament after their demand for an immediate discussion on the border situation was rejected. The opposition criticized the government for allowing its soldiers to be «trashed» and for ignoring threats from China. Jaishankar said such words were an insult to Indian soldiers and denied that the government was indifferent to the situation.
China has not commented.