China-India border dispute: China and India pull troops away from disputed area

After months of tensions and a violent clash on the India-China border, both governments have made a surprising move in the disputed region.

China and India have begun pulling troops away from the two countries’ disputed Himalayan border, with both sides agreeing to de-escalation of the conflict.

The Chinese military was seen dismantling structures yesterday at a location in the Galwan Valley – high up in the Himalayan border region where Chinese and Indian troops engaged in a deadly brawl last month – near the site of the latest clash, Indian government sources told Reuters.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Chinese and Indian troops both started to withdraw from some friction points along the two countries’ Himalayan border, after talks were held between senior diplomats and military commanders to calm tensions.

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It came two days after an Indian newspaper reported a brewing conflict between Beijing and Bhutan over a wildlife sanctuary, which the Bhutanese government and experts described as a new territorial claim.

In a statement, the Indian government said both sides agreed not to take “any unilateral action to alter the status quo”.

China took a firmer tone, stressing that it would “continue to vigorously defend its own territorial sovereignty and maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas.”

One month ago, China had boldly renewed claims to the disputed border, stating that it fell entirely within China. (Photo by NICOLAS ASFOURI / AFP)

Just one month ago, China had boldly renewed claims to the area, stating that it fell entirely within China.

Asked whether China had moved equipment back to the Galwan Valley, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said both sides were “taking effective measures to disengage and ease the situation on the border”.

“We hope India will meet China halfway and take concrete measures to carry out what both sides agreed to, continue to closely communicate through diplomatic and military channels, and work together to cool down the situation at the border,” Mr Zhao told a news conference.

The surprising push for disengagement from the border follows weeks of tensions between the Asian nations.

Thousands of soldiers from the two countries have been facing off just a few hundred metres from each other for a month in the Indian-controlled Ladakh region.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has been pursuing an increasingly aggressive approach in the region, asserting territorial claims along the border. The tensions that erupted were among the worst in decades, and raised the prospect of India tightening its alliances with the United States and other Asian countries to offset China’s power in the region.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has increasingly been taking a more aggressive approach along the disputed region. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

The latest move to de-escalate follows a deadly clash between the two powers which left 20 Indian soldiers dead last month, in the first deadly border clash in 45 years.

China did not confirm any casualties at the time, but accused Indian soldiers of crossing into its territory.

At the time, Mr Zhau accused the opposing side of “provoking and attacking Chinese personnel, resulting in serious physical confrontation between border forces on the two sides”.

Indian officials say Chinese soldiers entered Ladakh in early May at three different points, erecting tents and guard posts and ignoring verbal warnings to leave. That triggered shouting matches, stone-throwing and fistfights, much of it replayed on television and social media.

China has objected to India building a road through a valley connecting the region to an airstrip, possibly sparking its move to assert control over territory along the border that is not clearly defined in places. India and China fought a border war in 1962 and have been trying to settle their dispute since the early 1990s without success.

In all, China claims some 90,000 square kilometres of territory in India’s northeast, including the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, with its traditionally Buddhist population. India says China occupies 38,000 square kilometres of its territory in the Aksai Chin Plateau in the western Himalayas, including part of the Ladakh region.

– with AFP