India-China Border Standoff Turns Violent, With 20 Indian Soldiers Dead

Twenty Indian Army soldiers were killed in a “violent face-off” with Chinese troops Monday night in the disputed Himalayan Galwan Valley, the Indian Army announced Tuesday. It is the first time in decades that the long-simmering border dispute has turned deadly, and there were reports of fresh violence on Tuesday.

What We Know:

• In a statement, the Indian Army said “17 Indian troops who were critically injured in the line of duty at the standoff location and exposed to sub-zero temperatures in the high altitude terrain have succumbed to their injuries, taking the total that were killed in action to 20”.
• China’s government did not confirm any deaths among its forces, but a Chinese military commander confirmed “casualties” in a statement released late Tuesday, giving no specifics. According to Indian news agencies, Indian government sources said there was a total of 43 killed and injured on the Chinese side.
• Indian media reports, quoting Army sources, said the soldiers were killed in a physical fight that involved stones and batons, but not gunfire. Regardless, the deaths represent a significant escalation of animosity between the two Asian giants, which fought a brief border war in 1962.
• Senior military officers from the two countries held meetings late last month aimed at resolving the border dispute, but the tension has continued to mount. It escalated sharply last month when thousands of Chinese troops reportedly moved into an area along the eastern Ladakh border, which India considers its territory.

• India’s recent construction of roads and airstrips close to the Chinese border likely irked Beijing, but some analysts believe China may also be trying to divert attention from its handling of the global coronavirus pandemic with a low-level military confrontation.

Both nations share a 2,100-mile border, much of which have had many stand-offs in the region, mostly push and shove incidents. This is the first time in the last 45 years that Indian or Chinese troops have been killed on the LAC. In 1975, an Indian patrol was ambushed by the Chinese in Arunachal Pradesh.