'Violent Face-Off' in Ladakh, 3 Indian Soldiers Killed, Reports of Chinese Casualties Too "During the de-escalation process underway in the Galwan Valley, a violent face-off took place yesterday night," the Indian Army said.

The wire, 16 June 2020, New Delhi: In a statement released on Tuesday afternoon, the Indian Army revealed that three Indians – a colonel and two soldiers – were killed in a “violent face-off” with Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley on Monday night. Indian military sources have revealed that no shots were fired and it was a hand-to-hand skirmish, and there were casualties on both sides.

“During the de-escalation process underway in the Galwan Valley, a violent face-off took place yesterday night with casualties. The loss of lives on the Indian side includes an officer and two soldiers. Senior military officials of the two sides are currently meeting at the venue to defuse the situation,” the Army’s statement said.

Major Generals from both armies are reportedly in talks currently.

The Army has not specified what the nature of the violent face-off was. It appears as though shots were not fired and there was “physical brawl” between the two armies. While initial reports said the army would hold a press conference at 2 pm, this did not happen.

The Chinese foreign ministry has responded to this by saying that India had carried out “provocative attacks” on Chinese soldiers after “illegally crossing” the border, Global Times reported. “China and Indian side agreed to resolve the bilateral issues through dialogue to ease the border situation and maintain peace and tranquility in border areas,” it continued.

#Indian troops on Mon. seriously violated the consensus of the two sides by illegally crossing the border twice and carrying out provocative attacks on Chinese soldiers, resulting in serious physical clashes: Chinese FM said on reports that 3 Indian soldiers were killed. pic.twitter.com/E1j3GYsAQT

— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) June 16, 2020

Chinese foreign minister spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that China had lodged “solemn representations against Indian military’s border crossing and proactive actions, which led to serious clashes on Monday. China urges the India side to restrain its troops in accordance with the consensus.”

The chief editor of Global Times, Hu Xijin, also said that there were casualties on the Chinese side as well. He also told India not to “be arrogant and misread China’s restraint as being weak”. “China doesn’t want to have a clash with India, but we don’t fear it,” he said.

Indian military sources told The Wire that while there is no clarity, the Indian side may have crossed over as part of the disengagement talks. During the talks, there must have been a quarrel and it escalated, and there was “pushing and shoving”. “The area where they met is very treacherous and mountainous. In the pushing and shoving, the three seem to have slipped. We don’t know if it was deliberate or it happened during the pushing and shoving,” sources said.

The sources added that while there were casualties on the Chinese side as well, details were not clear.

These are the first casualties at the India-China border in 45 years, since 1975, when four soldiers will killed in a Chinese ambush 500 metres south of Tulung La. In 1967, in a clash in Sikkim, 80 Indian soldiers and 400 Chinese soldiers are estimated to have been killed.

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army carried out multi-prong deep incursions of three to five kilometres across north Sikkim and east Ladakh last month. Starting on May 5, the Chinese not only occupied Indian territory but also built concrete defences on it.

The first official admission of intrusions came from defence minister Rajnath Singh, who said: “This time, Chinese have come in in good strength.” There have been five rounds of military dialogue between the countries on the incursions so far. As Ajai Shukla reported on The Wire, China was talking a hard line in the talks, with PLA interlocutors flatly rejecting the Indian demand for Chinese troops to withdraw from areas they occupied in May and restore the status quo that prevailed in April.

The violent incident comes days after Indian Army chief General M.M. Naravane said both sides have begun disengaging from Galwan Valley.