China and India said they agreed to push for an early withdrawal of front troops after soldiers clashed along their disputed Himalayan border in the first outbreak of violence in the area in seven months.
According to a joint press release from China’s Ministry of Defense on Monday evening, the two countries said at a commander-level meeting that they would continue dialogue and negotiations. China and India agreed to hold the next meeting early to promote de-escalation, they said in the statement.
The statement made no mention of the latest clash between troops.
Soldiers from both sides were injured in the new outbreak of violence along the border that runs through the northeastern state of Sikkim. ANI reported. The Indian military confirmed in a statement that there was a “minor clash” in the Nakula area of North Sikkim on January 20, which was resolved by local commanders.
It is the same area where violence broke out between the two armies on May 9.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a daily briefing in Beijing on Monday that he “had no information to offer” about the reports of clashes.
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However, I would like to emphasize that the Chinese border forces are committed to maintaining peace and tranquility along the border with India, Zhao said. “We urge the Indian side to work with us in the same direction and to refrain from any action that could escalate or complicate the situation along the border.”
Hu Xijin, the editor of the Communist Party-backed Global Times, called the reports “fake news” in a tweet, saying there was no record of the collision from the Chinese side patrol log. Hu’s tweets are being watched closely after accurately predicting Beijing’s past moves, even though his statements sometimes don’t reflect official policies.
Both sides moved thousands of soldiers, tanks and artillery to the disputed border following clashes in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley last June that killed at least 20 Indian soldiers and an unknown number of Chinese troops.
India and China share a controversial and unmarked 3,488 kilometer boundary known as the Line of Actual Control. The two nations held another round of Corps Commander-level talks on Sunday to end the deadlock.
– With assistance from Sudhi Ranjan Sen, Lulu Shen, Lucille Liu, Colum Murphy and Jon Herskovitz