Do not wish to see more clashes in Galwan Valley: China Foreign Office

Sandeep Dikshit

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 17

The Chinese Foreign Office on Wednesday said it did not wish to see more clashes with Indian troops in the Galwan Valley, a day after both sides suffered casualties in a physical face-off.

India has confirmed 20 deaths while China usually does not release its casualty figures.

At the same time, a wide gulf remained between the two sides on the trigger for the clashes at the Line of Actual Control (LAC). “The incident happened on the Chinese side of LAC and China is not to blame for it,” said Zhao Lijian, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson.

On the other hand, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastav, in his statement on Tuesday was categorical that China had reneged on an understanding between army commanders at a meeting on June 6. “While it was our expectation that this would unfold smoothly, Chinese intransigence led to the events taking a different turn,” he had said.

In the Chinese media, though the hawkish Global Times kept up a steady stream of articles on the LAC tensions but analysts took a particular note of the People’s Daily terming the clash as “the most severe in decades”. The official newspaper of the powerful Central Committee of the Communist Party of China said it was “a provocative military operation staged by Indian troops to capture Chinese territory and shift domestic pressure”.

Both Foreign Office spokespersons also differed on the location of the clash. “India is very clear that all its activities are always within the Indian side of the LAC. We expect the same of the Chinese side,” Srivastav had said.

Zhao also made similar assertions. “The right and wrong of this is very clear. The sovereignty of the Galwan Valley area has always belonged to China. The Indian border troops flip-flopped and seriously violated our border protocols on border-related issues and the consensus of our commander-level talks,’’ he observed and added that both sides are in communication through diplomatic and military channels.

Meanwhile, the US State Department condoled the loss of lives on the Indian side saying it was closely monitoring the situation between Indian and Chinese forces along the LAC.