BEIJING: The Indian military not only obstructed a routine patrol by Chinese border troops, it also fabricated rumor that “Chinese soldiers were detained for crossing the borderline” via the mouthpiece of the Indian media, a thief crying “stop thief” trick that Chinese analysts said that India side has learned nothing from last year’s border skirmish and should be held culpable for the latest incident.
The latest incident broke a relatively calm period on the China-India border, and as China and India are about to engage in another round of high-level military talks. Chinese experts warned the Indian army and media to not mistake China’s restraints over such rumors as tolerance for slander.
India media News18 cited government sources as saying that the Indian army temporarily detained a few Chinese troops in Zangnan area of southern Xizang (Tibet) for “incursion” in this area. Yet it was slammed by the China Daily, who cited a Chinese military source as saying the report is “purely fabricated.”The Chinese military source said Chinese border troops conducted a routine patrol on September 28 in the Dongzhang area on the Chinese side of the Sino-Indian border and encountered “unreasonable obstruction” from the Indian military. The Chinese officers and soldiers took countermeasures resolutely and returned after the patrol mission was completed. The China-India border has been peaceful for ‘some time,’ while the incident in the Dongzhang area, where the Indian army obstructed the Chinese border troop’s routine patrol, shows India’s deliberate provocation and distortion of facts as it did last year, Qian Feng, director of the research department at the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times.
Qian said it is India that is breaching previous agreements reached by Beijing and New Delhi. And that it continues hyping Chinese “crossing the borderline” has shown the Indian side has learned nothing since last year’s clash, and is fully culpable for this incident.
China’s border regions with India have been facing pressure of being encroached by the Indian side. For instance in 2001, Indian troops tore down a bridge leading to a holy waterfall in Dongzhang region in Shannan city of Xizang, where Chinese residents could take water there, and set up a military checkpoint by the river, local border defense police told the Global Times in a previous interview. –Agencies
