Twenty Indian soldiers were killed in violent hand-to-hand clashes with Chinese troops on the disputed border in the Himalayas late on Monday as the threat of a full-blown war flared.
The soldiers died after intense fighting in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh where there has been a tense stand-off for more than a month, and were the first at the disputed border in 45 years.
The Indian army confirmed the higher total late last night after initially saying only three had died, including a colonel, and India blamed China for starting the fighting.
Once there are deaths, the restraint on firearms goes down. Pretty soon it could be a full-blown border war.
Twenty Indian troops were killed, and China says it wants to talk and calm things down, suggesting China had the upper hand and wants to collect its "winnings" and leave the table. Will India go along?
Strategypage has more on the issue generally.
America has not created nor stoked the India-China tension. But India and America have reasons to combine to thwart China's ambitions that rising Chinese power enable, like dominating the Indian Ocean which India naturally does not want:
China has significantly expanded its engagements in the Indian Ocean region over the past three decades, raising fears among American and Indian strategists that its growing naval presence, together with its use of so-called “debt-trap diplomacy,” might provide it with meaningful military advantages far from its shores.
Although China’s ultimate aims in the Indian Ocean remain somewhat ambiguous, it is clear that the Chinese leadership is actively pursuing capabilities that would allow it to undertake a range of military missions in the region.
We've worried about the Chinese anti-ship ballistic missile threat in the western Pacific. But I've noted that India is threatened by that capability, too:
Note that Chinese ballistic missiles--if armed for the anti-ship role--can reach all the way to the Horn of Africa and support Chinese forces there.
Is China really ready to push against India to the point of war?
Naturally, China blames America for the clash and tension. Why can't everybody just hate the evil a-holes in the CCP?
