Indian troops gather on Chinese border after soldiers clash
‘Volatile’ situation worsening after skirmish 12 days ago

India has moved more troops to its disputed border with China after a clash between soldiers of the two nations.
The Indian government said that it was mobilising thousands of troops along the mountainous 2,100-mile border, after an “encroachment” by Chinese forces triggered a scuffle with Indian troops 12 days ago.
The “nuclear-armed rivals” have been “locked in a stand-off” along the border for more than two years, said The Times, after China crossed the border to “seize strategic positions” in the disputed region of Ladakh, triggering a clash that left 20 Indian troops and at least four Chinese soldiers dead.
Subscribe to 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 two nations share a disputed 3,440km (2,100-mile) de facto border – known as the Line of Actual Control – which is “poorly demarcated”, said the BBC. Rivers, lakes and snowcaps mean the “line can shift” and “the soldiers on either side” come “face to face at many points”.
In the light of the latest flare-up, Delhi claimed its troops had repelled the incursion after a clash that left soldiers on both sides with minor injuries. However, noted The Times, the situation “remains volatile” as China “steps up its military presence on the border, probing for weaknesses and moving tanks and artillery up to the frontier”.
Meanwhile, India’s opposition has accused Narendra Modi’s government of failing to take the threat seriously but foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar insisted that the Indian army will not let Beijing change the status quo along the border “unilaterally”.
Rejecting Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s criticism of the government’s handling, he said “the army did not go there because Rahul Gandhi asked them to go” but “went there because the prime minister of India ordered them to go”, reported the Middle East North Africa Financial Network.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.
-
The noise of Bitcoin mining is driving Americans crazy
Under the Radar Constant hum of fans that cool data-centre computers is turning residents against Trump's pro-cryptocurrency agenda
-
May 30 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Friday's political cartoons include the Gipper's message to Russia, the U.S. Constitution, TACOS ruining Trump's parade, and grift at the White House.
-
'Wonder drug': the potential health benefits of creatine
The Explainer Popular fitness supplement shows promise in easing symptoms of everything from depression to menopause and could even help prevent Alzheimer's
-
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
-
Kashmir: India and Pakistan's conflict explained
The Explainer Tensions at boiling point in the disputed region after India launched retaliatory air strikes on its neighbour
-
India strikes Pakistan as tensions mount in Kashmir
speed read Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called it an 'act of war'
-
Kashmir: on the brink of a 'catastrophic' war
Talking Point Relations between India and Pakistan are 'cratering' in the aftermath of a shocking terror attack in the disputed border region
-
What happens if tensions between India and Pakistan boil over?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION As the two nuclear-armed neighbors rattle their sabers in the wake of a terrorist attack on the contested Kashmir region, experts worry that the worst might be yet to come
-
Dozens dead in Kashmir as terrorists target tourists
Speed Read Visitors were taking pictures and riding ponies in a popular mountain town when assailants open fired, killing at least 26
-
Why Russia removed the Taliban's terrorist designation
The Explainer Russia had designated the Taliban as a terrorist group over 20 years ago
-
China accuses NSA of Winter Games cyberattacks
speed read China alleges that the U.S. National Security Agency launched cyberattacks during the Asian Winter Games in February