Representational Image, credit: AP
New Delhi/Beijing : China on Tuesday claimed that Indian troops had fired warning shots, in retaliation of which the People's Liberation Army (PLA) took "countermeasures to stabilise the situation on the ground" along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh.
The government in New Delhi is yet to issue a statement on the sequence of events that led to the fresh escalation in the ongoing face-off along the LAC between the two countries.
In a statement, Colonel Zhang Shuili, spokesperson for the PLA Western Theatre Command, claimed the Indian Army "crossed the line and entered Bangong Hunan, the western section of the Sino-Indian border". He said, "Indian actions seriously violated the relevant agreements, and the agreements between China and India, pushing up regional tensions, and easily causing misunderstandings and misjudgments".
Last week, Indian troops preemptively scuttled the attempts by PLA to unilaterally change the status quo on the Southern Bank of Pangong Tso in Eastern Ladakh. Reacting to the preemptive action of the Indian Army, the Xi Jinping regime had threatened that the China-India border tensions will "surely escalate this time," since India "crossed the LAC at the border and purposely launched provocations."
India on Thursday had asked China to show sincerity in expeditiously restoring peace along the LAC and border areas through complete disengagement and de-escalation in accordance with the bilateral agreements and protocols.