Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Dec 12: Several Indian soldiers are believed to have been injured in a clash with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China at Yangtse, Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh on December 9, believed to be the first since the Galwan Valley tragedy in 2020, the government sources confirmed on Monday.
The clashing troops, however, immediately got disengaged. Even as the army is still silent on the issue, the government sources said, “The Indian and Chinese troops briefly clashed at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Arunachal Pradesh last week before disengaging,” government sources said today.
Confirming that the incident has occurred, a defence official while refusing to give specifics, claimed that the injuries on the “Chinese side were much higher than on the Indian side.” The face-off on December 9 led to “minor injuries to a few personnel from both sides” and the two sides “immediately disengaged from the area.” The official sources said few soldiers sustained fractured limbs during the skirmish and are recuperating at a hospital in Guwahati. Around 600 PLA soldiers were present when the clashes took place, the source said.
The face-off took place at the Tawang Sector of Arunachal Pradesh. According to sources, Chinese troops crossed the LAC, which was contested by Indian soldiers in a “firm and resolute manner.” This is the first reported clash between Indian and Chinese troops since skirmishes at Eastern Ladakh.
The worst of these clashes broke out at Galwan Valley in June 2020, when 20 Indian soldiers died for the country and over 40 Chinese soldiers were reportedly killed or injured. The incident set off a series of confrontations between the two nations, including one at the South Bank of Pangong Lake.
After multiple meetings between military commanders, Indian and Chinese troops pulled back from key points including Gogra-Hot Springs in Ladakh. According to government sources, such confrontations had been taking place since 2006 because of “differing perceptions” of the border.
“In certain areas along the LAC in the Tawang Sector in Arunachal Pradesh there are areas of differing perception, wherein both sides patrol the area up to their claim lines. This has been the trend since 2006. On 09 December 2022, Chinese troops contacted the LAC in Tawang Sector which was contested by own troops in a firm and resolute manner,” said the sources.
As a follow-up of the incident, the Indian commander in the area held a flag meeting with his Chinese counterpart to comply with “structured mechanisms to restore peace and tranquillity”, the government said.
This is not the first time the area in Arunachal Pradesh has seen a face-off between the Indian and Chinese troops. Since the boundary is undefined, Indian and Chinese troops often face-off while patrolling the area. In October 2021, a similar incident had taken place when some Chinese soldiers of a large patrol team were detained for few hours by the Indian Army they engaged in a minor face-off and clashed near Yangtse.
In the last few years, the Army has significantly upgrading firepower and infrastructure along the LAC in the Tawang sector and a similar effort is underway in the Rest of Arunachal Pradesh (RALP). This includes road infrastructure, bridges, tunnels, habitat and other storage facilities, aviation facilities and upgradation of communications and surveillance especially in the Upper Dibang Valley region.
There had been a change in the pattern of PLA patrols, with large size patrols coming now to assert their claim while also testing India across the Line of Actual Control (LAC) which defence officials had said was to prevent any surprise or getting overwhelmed by Indian troops in case there is a flare up. Before the Galwan clash, the Chinese bases have largely been much farther from the LAC.
Majority of the transgressions in the last few years are in the Western sector while there is an increasing trend of transgressions in the Eastern and Middle sectors, officials has stated earlier. The LAC is divided into Western (Ladakh), Middle (Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand), Sikkim, and Eastern (Arunachal Pradesh) sectors.
In Eastern Ladakh, India and China are positioned in close proximity at multiple locations along the undefined LAC for more than two years. While several rounds of talks at diplomatic and military level have eased the standoff at few points turning the areas into no-patrolling zones, there are others where the build-up continues.