China threatens to intensify border tensions with India

 

China threatens to escalate border tensions with India

New Delhi/Ladakh: The Xi Jinping government on Monday evening said that China-India border

tensions will "surely escalate this time," since India had "crossed the LAC and purposely launched

provocations." The statement issued in the Chinese state-run Global Times came after India on Monday

morning revealed that it had pre-emptively thwarted Chinese intentions to unilaterally change the status

quo on the southern bank of Pangong Tso in eastern Ladakh.

 

A brigade commander-level flag meeting was held on Monday at Chushul to resolve the issues.

However, China rejected the Indian statement, claiming that instead, Indian troops had "illegally crossed

the Line of Actual Control (LAC) on Monday, which is a severe violation of the consensus reached before

at the multi-level talks between the two countries," the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Western Theatre

Command said on Monday night. The PLA Western Theatre Command urged India to withdraw its troops

that crossed the LAC and strictly restrain frontline forces.

"Such blatant provocative actions lead to pressure on the border," the statement said.

Quoting experts, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party of China (CPC) regime said, "Indian action

this time will definitely escalate tensions, as China has been forced to be tough and would take action;

otherwise, the Indian provocation would be endless." About 70% of respondents to a recent survey

conducted by the Global Times and China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR)

agree that the Chinese government should be tough in fighting back against India's provocations, and

89.1% support military retaliation, with 50.4% of them "strongly supporting" self-defense and counterattacks,

the report said. Admitting that the "negotiations held by both sides since June 15 have achieved limited

progress, as the Indian stance remains tough," the Chinese experts said that they had "even urged Chinese

forces to retreat from some locations within Chineseregion, which China has denied."