China dismisses India claims of military ‘provocation’ at disputed border

Beijing has dismissed India’s claims of “provocative” military movements by Chinese troops at the contested border line dividing the two Asian neighbors.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a news briefing on Monday that the country’s soldiers “never crossed” the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the de facto frontier between the two countries, contrary to what New Delhi claimed earlier in the day. Lijian said both sides were in communication regarding the situation on the ground. In a fresh flare-up tensions, the Indian army claimed in a statement earlier in the day that Chinese troops carried out military movements over the weekend to change the status quo on their disputed border. It said the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “violated the previous consensus arrived at during military and diplomatic engagements during the ongoing standoff in Eastern Ladakh and carried out provocative military movements to change the status quo.” The Indian army said its troops had foiled what it called China’s attempts to “change facts” in the disputed Himalayan territory, which was the scene of deadly clashes between the two sides in mid-June. A spokesman for the Indian Army, Colonel Aman Anand, said “the Indian army is committed to maintaining peace and tranquility through dialogue, but is also equally determined to protect its territorial integrity.” The army spokesman said negotiations were already underway to resolve the latest bone of contention between the neighboring countries. “A Brigade Commander-level flag meeting is in progress at Chushul to resolve the issues,” he said. The latest incident was reported along the southern bank of the Pangong Tso Lake, which claimed by both sides. The 134-km-long river extends from Ladakh, India to the Tibetan Autonomous Region, China. Despite several rounds of military and diplomatic talks, Indian and Chinese troops have been locked in a faceoff in the western Himalayas, where both sides have been trading accusations of violating the LAC. India and China have not been able to agree on their nearly 3,500-kilometer border over which they went to war in 1962. SOURCE: PRESS TV

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