INDIAN AND CHINESE TROOPS CLASH AT SIKKIM BORDER: REPORTS

Mon 25 January 2021:

Indian and Chinese troops have brawled on their contested Himalayan border, leaving injuries on both sides, India’s military and media reports said.

“It is clarified that there was a minor face-off at Naku La area of North Sikkim on 20 January 2021 and the same was resolved by local commanders as per established protocols,” the Indian army said in a statement on Monday.

Naku La connects the Indian state of Sikkim to the Tibet region in China.

Media reports quoted Indian military officials as saying there were casualties on both sides in the brawl last week.

A Chinese patrol tried to cross into Indian territory and was forced back, the officials said.

The incident came six months after a pitched battle which killed at least 20 Indian troops and an unknown number of Chinese forces.

Breaking: China has constructed a new village in Arunachal Pradesh, 4.5 kms within Indian territory of the de facto border, consisting of about 101 homes, satellite images show, reports @ndtv. pic.twitter.com/1ZK77XKZMG

— Ahmer Khan (@ahmermkhan) January 18, 2021

Hand-to-hand fighting on the Sikkim border in May last year set off the latest frontier tensions between the world’s two most-populous nations.

In June, troops from the two sides fought with fists and wooden clubs in the Galwan valley of the Ladakh region, killing 20 Indian and an undisclosed number of Chinese soldiers.

China and India, who fought a border war in 1962, blamed each other for the dispute and each has poured tens of thousands of extra troops into border zones.

The latest de-escalation talks between military commanders were held on Sunday.