Beijing: A Chinese journalist has posted a video online that he suggested showed China’s troops escorting members of the Indian armed forces, following disputed reports that India detained Chinese soldiers during the border stand-off.
A journalist from nationalistic tabloid Global Times posted the video on Twitter on Thursday with the hashtags “ChinaIndiaStandOff” and “IndiaChinaBorder”.
It appeared to show Chinese troops escorting what the tweet implied were captured Indian soldiers, who were blindfolded. The tweet, by journalist Yang Sheng, did not state when the video was filmed, and read: “PLA is the most civilised military force in treating prisoners of its enemies. Those Indian soldiers and officers in the video will agree with me.”
Indian media reported this month that India detained about 200 Chinese soldiers who had been trying to destroy Indian bunkers along the disputed border known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC). News of the detentions was then denied in a report by Hindustan Times, which quoted an Indian government source as saying that no Chinese soldiers were held, nor was damage caused to defences.
China and India have been unable to agree on where the LAC lies. Chinese state media denied the reports that Chinese troops had been detained, but said the country’s soldiers had been “unreasonably obstructed” by the Indian Army while conducting a routine patrol late last month on the Chinese side of the de facto border.
China Daily, citing a Chinese military source, said that the Indian side had “deliberately provoked and smeared, and seriously violated the bilateral agreement”.
The face-off occurred days before the two militaries’ 13th round of commander-level talks on the weekend on the Chinese side of the LAC in eastern Ladakh. The talks ended without progress.
“The Chinese side has made great efforts and fully demonstrated its sincerity to promote the de-escalation of the border situation,” a Chinese military spokesman said.
“But the Indian side still insists on unreasonable and unrealistic demands, making the negotiations more difficult.” Who has the upper hand in the India-China border dispute?
India, however, blamed Beijing for causing tensions through “unilateral attempts” to change the status quo at the border.
Border tensions flared up last May and escalated into deadly clashes in June in Galwan Valley in Ladakh, resulting in the deaths of four Chinese and 20 Indian soldiers.
China has carried out several high-profile military drills in its Tibet and Xinjiang regions in recent days, which observers viewed as warnings to India. South China Morning Post
