China uses microwave weapons to blast Indian troops in disputed border region
The radiation technology left soldiers vomiting and incapacitated without breaking no-live-shots rule

China got round a no-live-shots agreement during a border stand-off in the Himalayas by deploying microwave weapons to “cook” enemy troops from India, a Beijing-based academic has claimed.
The Chinese military used “high-energy electromagnetic radiation” technology to effectively turn “two strategic hilltops that had been occupied by Indian soldiers into a microwave oven”, The Times reports.
The attack left the Indian troops “vomiting” and unable to stand within 15 minutes, enabling the People’s Liberation Army to “retake two strategically important hilltops in the Himalayas without any exchange of live fire”, according to Jin Canrong, a professor of international relations at China’s Renmin University.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The acadamic told attendees at a recent lecture that China didn’t publicise the victory, in late August, “because we solved the problem beautifully”.
“They [India] didn’t publicise it, either, because they lost so miserably,” he added.
The two sides have been locked in a border dispute in the Ladakh region since April, but have agreed a no-live-shots rule in a bid to avoid a repeat of the bloody 1962 Sino-Indian War.
However, troops from both sides have been killed during increasingly violent hand-to-hand combat, including a clash in June that saw the soldiers battering each other with iron sticks, bats and bamboo sticks studded with nails.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
But now China appears to be using more sophisticated weapons, amid an ongoing failure to reach a settlement over the disputed region “despite a series of high-level talks”, says The Sun.
Microwave attacks use “beams of high-frequency electromagnetic radiation to heat the water in a human target’s skin, causing pain and discomfort”, the paper explains. “The weapons are not intended to do any lasting harm, though concerns have been raised about whether they could damage the eyes or have a carcinogenic impact in the long-term.”
The Times says that the US “deployed its own vehicle-mounted microwave weapon, called an Active Denial System, to Afghanistan ten years ago but it was withdrawn, reportedly without being used in combat”.
Similar weapons are suspected to have been used during an attack on US diplomats in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou in 2018, and during alleged attacks against the US and Canadian embassies in Cuba’s capital Havana dating back to 2016.
Joe Evans is the world news editor at TheWeek.co.uk. He joined the team in 2019 and held roles including deputy news editor and acting news editor before moving into his current position in early 2021. He is a regular panellist on The Week Unwrapped podcast, discussing politics and foreign affairs.
Before joining The Week, he worked as a freelance journalist covering the UK and Ireland for German newspapers and magazines. A series of features on Brexit and the Irish border got him nominated for the Hostwriter Prize in 2019. Prior to settling down in London, he lived and worked in Cambodia, where he ran communications for a non-governmental organisation and worked as a journalist covering Southeast Asia. He has a master’s degree in journalism from City, University of London, and before that studied English Literature at the University of Manchester.
-
September 13 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Saturday's political cartoons include court-approved racial profiling and America's moral compass
-
Giorgio Armani obituary: designer revolutionised the business of fashion
In the Spotlight ‘King Giorgio’ came from humble beginnings to become a titan of the fashion industry and redefine 20th century clothing
-
Kim Jong Un’s triumph: the rise and rise of North Korea’s dictator
In the Spotlight North Korean leader has strengthened ties with Russia and China, and recently revealed his ‘respected child’ to the world
-
'Axis of upheaval': will China summit cement new world order?
Today's Big Question Xi calls on anti-US alliance to cooperate in new China-led global system – but fault lines remain
-
A private zoo run by Asia's richest family is facing criticism and investigations
Under the radar The zoo is owned by Anant Ambani, the son of Asia's richest person
-
China is silently expanding its influence in American cities
Under the Radar New York City and San Francisco, among others, have reportedly been targeted
-
Delhi's dogs earn Supreme Court reprieve
IN THE SPOTLIGHT After an outcry from the public and animal rights activists, India's Supreme Court walks back a controversial plan to round the city's stray dog population into shelters
-
India's fake weddings
Under The Radar New party trend promises all the fun of a wedding without any of the downsides
-
How China uses 'dark fleets' to circumvent trade sanctions
The Explainer The fleets are used to smuggle goods like oil and fish
-
One year after mass protests, why are Kenyans taking to the streets again?
today's big question More than 60 protesters died during demonstrations in 2024
-
China looms large over India and Pakistan's latest violence
IN THE SPOTLIGHT Beijing may not have had troops on the ground, but as South Asia's two nuclear powers bared their teeth over Kashmir, China eyed an opportunity