India has scaled up troop presence at its disputed border with China to “unprecedented” levels after clashes with Beijing on Dec. 9, the country’s foreign minister said, according to the BBC.
Indian and Chinese troops tussled with clubs and stun guns last week, the second outbreak of violence along a hotly contested region since fighting killed 20 Indian soldiers in 2020, according to The New York Times. India has upgraded troops along the 2,100-mile Line of Actual Control (LAC) to protect against alleged future “encroachment” by Chinese forces, Indian foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said, the BBC reported.
The deployment aims “to counter Chinese aggression,” Jaishankar said at an India Today media event, according to the BBC. “The Indian Army today is deployed to counter any attempt to unilaterally change LAC.”
India blamed the clashes earlier in December to trespassing by Chinese troops, but Beijing later countered, saying the situation was “generally stable” and the two sides have sustained dialogue regarding boundary disputes, the BBC reported.
“We hope that the Indian side will work with us in the same direction,” and “act strictly in the spirit of relevant bilateral agreements signed by both sides” to “jointly preserve peace and tranquility in the border areas,” Chinese Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Dec. 13.
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