In all, China claims some 90,000 square kilometers (35,000 square miles) of territory in India’s northeast, including Arunachal Pradesh with its mainly Buddhist population.
India says China occupies 38,000 square kilometers (15,000 square miles) of its territory in the Aksai Chin Plateau, which India considers part of Ladakh, where the current faceoff is happening.
China, in the meantime, began cementing relations with India’s archrival Pakistan and backing it on the issue of disputed Kashmir.
Firefights broke out again in 1967 and 1975, leading to more deaths on both sides. They’ve since adopted protocols, including an agreement not to use firearms, but those protocols have fractured.
A clash three years ago in the Ladakh region killed 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese. It turned into a long-running standoff in the rugged mountainous area, where each side has stationed tens of thousands of military personnel backed by artillery, tanks and fighter jets.
Both India and China have withdrawn troops from some areas on the northern and southern banks of Pangong Tso, Gogra and Galwan Valley, but continue to maintain extra troops as part of a multitier deployment.
In April, India’s defense minister accused China of eroding the “entire basis” of ties between the countries by violating bilateral agreements, during talks with his Chinese counterpart Gen. Li Shangfu.
India says the deployment of a large number of Chinese troops, their aggressive behavior and attempts to unilaterally alter the border status quo violate agreements between the countries.
Li was visiting New Delhi to attend a meeting of the defense chiefs of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which consists of China, India, Pakistan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Krgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
