India, China Accuse Each Other's Troops of Opening Fire in Ladakh

India and China accused one another's troops of opening fire near Pangong Tso Lake on the western section of the China-India border on September 7 amidst claims of border transgression from both sides.

There are no reports of casualties on either side. Reports quoting Indian officials said the Chinese troops were the first to open fire in the air to scare away an Indian army team patrolling on the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) the unofficial border between both countries.

“Indian troops illegally trespassed via the southern bank of PangongTso Lake on the western section of the China-India border on September 7, brazenly made gunshot threat to the patrolling Chinese border guards who came forwards for negotiations. The Chinese border guards were forced to take countermeasures to stabilize the situation on the ground, Colonel Zhang Shuili, spokesperson for the PLA Western Theater Command said in a statement.

However  an Indian MoD statement said; “It is the PLA that has been blatantly violating agreements and carrying out aggressive maneuvers. In the instant case on 07 September 2020, it was the PLA troops who were attempting to close-in with one of our forward positions along the LAC and when dissuaded by own troops, PLA troops fired a few rounds in the air in an attempt to intimidate our troops.”

However, despite the grave provocation, our troops exercised great restraint and behaved in a mature and responsible manner, the statement said.

“The Indian Army is committed to maintaining peace and tranquility, however is also determined to protect national integrity and sovereignty at all costs. The statement by the Western Theatre Command is an attempt to mislead their domestic and international audience,” the Indian MoD statement said.

The Chinese  statement continued, “India’s move is a grave military provocation of very bad nature.The flagrant act grossly violated the agreements previously reached between the two sides, and further escalated regional tensions, which can easily lead to misunderstandings and misjudgments.”

”We demand the Indian side to immediately stop dangerous actions, withdraw cross-line troops right away, strictly restrain its frontline troops, earnestly investigate and punish the personnel who fired shots, and guarantee against the occurrence of similar incidents,” Zhang urged.