Chinese troops have penetrated 10 kilometres inside territory held by India in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir in the high Himalayas.
A platoon-strength contingent of around 50 men have pitched tents and erected what they describe as a ‘border post’, essentially claiming the territory for China.
Because of long-standing tensions with Pakistan, India has significant forces close by and is quite capable of retaliation, but for the moment at least the government in New Delhi is playing down the intrusion.
External Affairs Minister Salman Khursgid believes diplomacy can solve the situation, but military sources close to the incursion say tensions are high.
The Defence Ministry is taking a stronger line, with Minister Arackaparambil Antony saying his country will take “all steps” to protect its borders.
And indeed Defence Ministry sources say that this intrusion is just one of many provocative acts by the Chinese in recent times.
As a result India has moved tanks and heavy artillery into Ladakh.
For the moment the situation is stalemated, with Beijing insisting its troops are simply conducting routine patrols on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control, which is the nearest thing to a border in areas which both sides claim.
“China is willing to solve the boundary question through peaceful negotiations,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
And that is the root cause of the problem. The “peaceful negotiations” have dragged on for half a century, since the short 1962 war between the two countries. China has established its borders with every country except India where it still has designs on large swathes of territory.
Some years ago it produced a map showing the entire Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh as “Southern Tibet”.
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