India-China standoff: Modi vows ‘fitting reply’ to deaths of 20 Indian soldiers in Himalayan fistfight

Deaths ‘deeply disturbing and painful’, says Indian defence minister, as China continues to withhold details on its casualties

An Indian soldier stands guard at check post along a highway leading to Ladakh, on Wednesday 17 June (EPA)

India’s prime minister Narendra Modi broke his silence on the death of 20 Indian soldiers in a clash with Chinese troops at the border on Monday night, vowing that their deaths “will not be in vain”.

Speaking on national television, Mr Modi said that India “wants peace, but when provoked will give a fitting reply regardless of the situation”.

There has been a clamour for action in the mostly conservative Indian media after the deadly confrontation in Galwan Valley, Kashmir, which led to the first deaths on the disputed Himalayan border since 1975. An editorial in the Times of India called for economic sanctions, saying that “China pushed too hard... India must push back”.

Officials say no shots were fired, but that the clash went on for several hours and involved fist fighting and the use of rocks, crude clubs and riot gear. India says some of the 20 dead, who included a high-ranking officer, perished after prolonged exposure to “sub-zero temperatures”.

Both sides are now intent on de-escalating the situation, and their respective foreign ministers held a phone call on Wednesday afternoon. India’s Subrahmanyam Jaishankar “underlined that this unprecedented development will have a serious impact on the bilateral relationship”, a foreign ministry spokesperson said.

China’s Wang Yi emphasised that both sides should strengthen communication and coordination to resolve differences, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

The extent of Chinese casualties in the incident remain unclear. China has not said if any of its troops were injured or killed, and the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said he was not aware of any casualties.

Indian media, meanwhile, quoted unnamed officials as saying there were as many as 45 Chinese dead. The Global Times, the English-language arm of the Chinese state-run People’s Daily newspaper, said China was not disclosing whether it had casualties in the skirmish to avoid comparisons and prevent further escalation.

China, Zhao said, wants a peaceful resolution. “Both sides agree to resolve this matter through dialogue and consultation and make efforts to ease the situation and safeguard peace and tranquillity in the border area,” he told a daily briefing.

But at the same time, both sides blamed each other for instigating the fight. India’s foreign ministry says it began when Chinese troops “sought to erect a structure in Galwan Valley on our side of the LAC (Line of Actual Control, the de facto border)”.

“While this became a source of dispute, the Chinese side took pre-meditated and planned action that was directly responsible for the resulting violence and casualties,” an official said.

China said on Tuesday that Indian soldiers had crossed the LAC and started “attacking Chinese personnel”. On Wednesday, Zhao elaborated that the Indian forces “forces provoked and attacked Chinese personnel, which lead to fears, physical confrontation between the two sides’ border troops and resulted in casualties”. The Global Times said the clash occurred because India misjudged the Chinese army’s strength and willingness to respond.

Defence analysts estimate that since the current standoff began in early May, Chinese forces have advanced around 60sqkm across the 3,500km-long border which, high in the mountains and dotted by rivers and lakes, can appear to be fluid.

Indian officials had publicly denied the loss of any land and, based on discussions held by senior military officers on 6 June, appeared content for things to remain as they were and for both sides to draw back the troops and hardware that have been flooding the region in recent weeks.

Monday night’s deaths might make it hard for India to accept the status quo, however. In his first comments on the confrontation, defence minister Rajnath Singh tweeted on Wednesday that the loss of soldiers was “deeply disturbing and painful”.

Unlike in China, where reporting of the incident has been relatively muted, in India it has received wall-to-wall coverage and sparked some small protests, despite Covid-19-led restrictions on gatherings.

In Delhi, a group of protesters gathered near the Chinese Embassy demanding a ban on the import of Chinese goods, and carrying placards with crossed-out photographs of Chinese president Xi Jinping and the Chinese army.

Nearby, a small group of retired Indian army personnel marched with placards reading “Chinese army down down”. They were detained by police.

India and China have already fought one war over their Himalayan border, in 1962, and the UN urged both sides “to exercise maximum restraint” in their standoff.

“We are concerned about reports of violence and deaths at the Line of Actual Control between India and China,” UN spokesperson Eri Kaneko said. “We take positive note of reports that the two countries have engaged to de-escalate the situation.”