Forces from China and India once again clashed in one of the regions disputed by the two nuclear powers in the Himalayas, a chain of mountains that concentrates the highest peaks on the planet.
According to available reports, which are popping up in the Indian press still without official confirmation from both governments, there were injuries among rival forces in the Tawang region, in the eastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.
The clash took place on one of the mountain passes between the area and China, which claims the entire state as part of Southern Tibet. Casualties confirmed, it is the most serious incident between the countries since soldiers faced each other on the border in the Indian region of Ladakh, in 2020.
On that occasion, there were dozens of dead, numbers ranging from 24 to more than 60, depending on the source. Officially, there were 20 Indians and 4 Chinese. In all, there are almost 3,500 km of borders between the two Asian giants, home to 2.8 billion of the 8 billion humans.
Several points in these areas are disputed in a relatively frozen conflict since 1962, when Beijing defeated New Delhi in a limited war. Until the 2020 incident, the last military death had occurred in 1975.
The skirmish took place, according to the Indian media, on Friday (9). The Times of India newspaper mentions 6 wounded Indians and perhaps twice as many Chinese, but it is not possible to verify. Chinese bloggers point to a “serious confrontation”, in turn.
Since the 2020 episode, there have been several attempts at accommodation. Both Chinese and Indians have atomic bombs, which New Delhi initially developed to threaten its existential rival, Pakistan, pulled from the other rib of former British India in 1947.
Islamabad also made its bomb, and both countries maintain a balance in the sector, with occasional shocks. But Pakistan has distanced itself from the United States over the years, becoming a political and military protectorate of China, which worries India.
Beijing, on the other hand, is apprehensive about the great rapprochement between Indians and Americans, symbolized in the alliance of the anti-China group Quad, which also has the participation of Australia and Japan and aims to contain Chinese assertiveness. In the last two years, India has accelerated the purchase of French Rafale fighters and redeployed six army divisions from the Pakistani border to Ladakh.
Geopolitically, the salad gets more complex in the context of the ongoing Cold War 2.0 with Beijing and Washington at rival poles.
Both China and India are part of the BRICS (with Russia, Brazil and South Africa), and New Delhi maintains a good relationship with the Kremlin, rejecting the sanctions resulting from the War in Ukraine and seeking good deals in the energy area.
At the same time, the Indians are frequent buyers of Russian weapons, which could change due to their clash with China and the fear of Western retaliation, at a time of great proximity to Washington. Beijing, Vladimir Putin’s biggest ally, has exchanged signals with Joe Biden’s government while increasing military synergy with the Russians.
From a conventional point of view, China (2 million troops) and India (1.4 million) have the two largest military personnel in the world. Chinese had in 2021 the second largest defense budget in the world, behind the US, and Indians were fourth, almost tied with the British, in third.
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