Chinese Troops in New Positions on the Himalayan Border Raise Fears of a Fresh India-China Slide

Relations between India and China, which had moved cautiously toward normalisation for much of the past year, now face fears of a fresh deterioration. According to India's border force chief, Chinese troops returned in large numbers earlier this year to several places along the disputed Himalayan border and set up tents a few kilometres inside territory claimed by India.

Indo-Tibetan Border Police Director General Shatrujit Singh Kapoor told a gathering of officials in Rajasthan state that Indian and Chinese soldiers had faced off at several places in India's northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, and that those standoffs were still continuing.

Kapoor said the standoffs began in July. At first both sides pulled troops back, but a few days later Chinese soldiers returned in even larger numbers. By his account, they set up tents about six to seven kilometres inside what India regards as its territory under its perception of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

The LAC is a loosely defined line separating the areas controlled by the two neighbours. The disputed border runs for 3,440 kilometres, about 2,100 miles, and India and China have argued over it for decades.

China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of South Tibet. Delhi has always rejected that claim; India's position is that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of the country.

Kapoor's remarks set off a political debate in Delhi, because such comments are rarely heard from a serving official. Sensitive border issues are usually raised by the central government through the defence ministry or the foreign ministry.

The border dispute is one of the problems India inherited on independence from British colonial rule in 1947 and remains one of its longest-running challenges. It led to a brief border war in 1962, in which India suffered a heavy defeat. More than six decades later, a large part of the border is still not formally demarcated.

The region's difficult terrain makes the problem harder. Shifting river courses, lakes and snow-covered peaks make a clear border hard to define, so the two armies often come face to face; sometimes those encounters turn into violent clashes and diplomatic tension.

The last major escalation came in June 2020, when a clash in Ladakh's Galwan Valley killed at least 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers. It was the first deadly clash between the two countries since 1975. India's opposition parties accused the government of losing territory to China, an allegation Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has repeatedly rejected.

After that clash, diplomatic contact was disrupted and trade and travel were hurt. After several rounds of talks, the two countries agreed in 2024 on steps to reduce border tension. They then moved to restart direct flights and ease visa restrictions imposed after the clash. Chinese President Xi Jinping visited India in September for a BRICS summit, his first visit to India in seven years.

After Kapoor's remarks, India's main opposition party, Congress, again accused the Modi government of giving ground to Beijing. Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh wrote on the social platform X that the prime minister and his entire administration were silent on this grave matter. The Indian government has not clearly denied Kapoor's statement that Chinese soldiers set up tents six to seven kilometres inside territory India considers its own.

Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said last week that when Chinese forces move away from established patrolling arrangements, the situation in border areas is sometimes disturbed. He said both countries were using military and diplomatic channels to resolve the outstanding issues.