India, China troops in high-altitude clash

Indian and Chinese troops clashed briefly on a disputed area of land in the Himalayas, officials said on Wednesday, exacerbating tensions during a months-long standoff between the two armies.

Chinese troops threw stones at Indian soldiers near Pangong Lake, a major tourist attraction in the picturesque mountain region of Ladakh on Tuesday, an Indian defence official said.

He said Chinese soldiers had twice tried to enter the occupied Indian territory but had been pushed back. The incident occurred as the nations are locked in a tense standoff in another border region.

"There was a minor incident. There was some stone pelting from the Chinese side but the situation was quickly brought under control," he told AFP on condition of anonymity. The brief confrontation was resolved after Indian and Chinese sides retreated to their respective positions, he added.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she was not aware of the latest reports, but she added that "Chinese border troops are always committed to maintaining peace on the India-China border". "We always patrol along the Chinese line of control. And we urge the occupied Indian side to abide by the line of control and relevant conventions between the two sides," Hua said.

Police in the occupied  north Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, where Ladakh is located, said clashes were relatively common along the de facto border known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

"These things happen every summer but this one was slightly prolonged and more serious but no weapons were used," a police source in occupied Srinagar told AFP. The Pangong lake area lies over 4,000 metres (13,000 feet) high on the Tibetan plateau.

The latest incident comes amid an ongoing dispute between the two sides over a strategic Himalayan plateau thousands of kilometres away where hundreds of occupied Indian and Chinese soldiers have been facing off against each other for more than two months.

The border trouble began in June when Chinese soldiers started to extend a road through the Doklam territory -- known as "Donglang" in Chinese. The area is disputed between China and Bhutan. India, a close ally of Bhutan, then deployed troops to stop the construction project, prompting Beijing to accuse India of trespassing on Chinese soil.

China has said India must withdraw its troops before any proper negotiation takes place. India said both sides should withdraw their forces together. The plateau is strategically significant as it gives China access to the so-called "chicken’s neck" -- a thin strip of land connecting India’s northeastern states with the rest of the country.

Indian media said the Chinese army had this year declined to participate in ceremonial meetings usually held to mark Independence Day on Tuesday. It was the first time since 2005 that the meetings were not held.

The two nuclear-armed neighbours fought a brief war in 1962 in India’s border state of Arunachal Pradesh. Tensions along the LAC rose in 2014 when Chinese soldiers moved into territory claimed by India, sparking a two-week military stand-off that overshadowed a visit by China’s President Xi Jinping.