FIERY WORDS
China warns India it will ‘crush any aggression’ and army is ‘prepared for clash’ as nuclear powers square up on border
CHINESE state media has warned the nation will “crush any aggression” as it boasted it is prepared for a conflict with India.
It comes as the situation in the Himalayas sits on a knife edge after 20 Indian soldiers were beaten to death in a clash with Chinese forces.
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Communist Party newspaper the - which has a circulation of 1.5million - published a piece branding India a “threat”.
And it directly linked a recent large-scale high-altitude war game in Tibet which saw China mobilise tanks, soldiers and artillery to the simmering tensions.
Chinese state TV released footage of the drill earlier with the Himalayan mountain range chillingly providing a backdrop - it is believed to have taken place earlier in June.
Around 7,000 soldiers took part, rehearsing storming fortified positions as the People's Liberation Army (PLA) flexed its military muscles.
The newspaper - which is often seen as the unfiltered mouthpiece of China's rulers - said the exercise showed Beijing is ready to “crush any aggression”.
It warned troops from “across China” will mobilise to defend the border as the world waits with bated breath for results from talks between the nuclear-armed powers.
Quoting military analysts, it said: “While the fatal clash between China and India in the Galwan Valley region will very unlikely escalate into a large-scale military conflict, as such an escalation is against the interests of both sides, the PLA showed they are prepared.”
India and China are at loggerheads after a fight broke out in the Galwan Valley between their forces - with brutal combat using makeshift weapons.
No shots were fired due to a longstanding agreement that no guns can be used within around a mile of the border, known as the Line of Actual Control.
Both sides have blamed the other for the clash, and it is feared the decades-long row over the territory could spiral into a larger conflict.
Indian media reports talks between the two sides are "barely keeping things under control" and the situation on the ground is "extremely volatile".
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Pictures have emerged today of spiked bats allegedly used during the brawl as there were reports Indian soldiers were "mutilated" after the clash.
The brutality of the fight in the Galwan Valley is reportedly fueling fury in New Delhi, with protests erupting around the country as people burn pictures of Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Shocking details have emerged over the fight which allegedly happened when 55 Indian soldiers came across 300 Chinese troops on a mountain ridge.
At least 20 Indian soldiers - including officer Bikumalla Santosh Babu - died in the fighting, and one Indian official described the Chinese force as a "death squad".
The violent deaths are the first fatalities in the feud since 1975, and talks are continuing to try and and deescalate the situation.
Funerals have started taking place today for some of the Indian soldiers who died during the fighting as national outrage grows.
Calls are mounting for a boycott of Chinese products as India has warned it will offer a "befitting reply" to the bloody deaths.
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Eri Kaneko, spokeswoman for the UN Secretary-General, has pleaded with both sides to "exercise maximum restraint".
India and China have been feuding over the border since the two powers last fought a war in 1962.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the country is ready to hit back if provoked by China.
In a televised address, the PM said: "I would like to assure the nation that the sacrifice of our jawans will not be in vain.
"For us, the unity and sovereignty of the country is the most important. India wants peace but it is capable to give a befitting reply if instigated."
Indian has reportedly placed its warships and fighter planes on alert as it prepares for conflict - with pictures yesterday showing convoys of troops heading for the border.
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Thousands of Indian and Chinese soldiers, backed by armored trucks and artillery, have been facing off a few hundred yards apart for more than a month in the region near Tibet.
Indian officials have said Chinese soldiers crossed the boundary in Ladakh in early May at three different points, erecting tents and guard posts and ignoring verbal warnings to leave.
That triggered shouting matches, stone-throwing and fistfights, much of it replayed on television news channels and social media.
Since then India has accused China of invading 20 square miles of its territory.
China also accused Indian troops of crossing its border and attacking its soldiers in the tit-for-tat border row.
The border dispute covers nearly 2,175 miles of frontier, and India accuses China of occupying almost 15,000 square miles of its territory.
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Tensions have been growing in the region since April when China deployed thousands of troops as well as artillery and vehicles.
Analysts say the troops were deployed in an attempt to stop India increasing its own military presence in the area.
Both countries have a huge military might as well as a large nuclear arsenal.
And both countries too have nationalistic-leaning governments and neither will want to be seen to be the one backing down with, at the very least, national pride at stake.
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This will likely be a watershed moment in India-China relations and the geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific, said Abraham Denmark, Asia program director at The Wilson Center.
India and China are led by men who have embraced nationalism, and both countries are facing tremendous domestic and international upheaval as a result of Covid-19 and other long-standing problems.
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It is a highly volatile and dangerous situation between two at a time when American influence has badly diminished, Denmark said.
The main questions now are if either side can find a path to deescalation and whether India's allies such as the US will help.
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India deploys troops and fighter jets day after China killed 20 soldiers in brutal hand-to-hand fighting along border
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