now let's talk about the Indian Army
which is saying 20 of its soldiers have
been killed by Chinese troops in the
disputed Kashmir region this is the
first deadly clash on this border in 45
years
initially the Indian Army said three
soldiers had died and others were
wounded but now we have this updated
statement saying 17 troops were
critically injured at the standoff
location and who were exposed to
sub-zero temperatures in the high
altitude terrain have succumbed to their
injuries and so the death toll is now 20
China for its part is accusing India of
crossing the border and attacking its
personnel well let's have a look at the
border in question this is the Garwin
River Valley area both sides have been
deploying thousands of troops on either
side in recent weeks well I speak to
Shashank Joshi defense editor of The
Economist who's live with us thank you
very much for your time
and before we get into the details of
the last 24 hours or so help us
understand why tensions have been
growing in the last few weeks
sure well this is a strategic area for
India it's right up in the far north for
China this is on the western edge of
Tibet as you pointed out this is the
first major attack since 1975 and that's
partly because they've both learned how
to manage their differences the border
is absolutely enormous it's it's almost
entirely undefined so patrols
effectively overlap the reason tensions
have been growing in the last few weeks
isn't entirely clear but it's probably
to do with the fact that India has been
upgrading the infrastructure on its own
side of the border in this area known as
Ladakh over the past several years
particularly over the past year they've
completed a vital road that runs south
to north
and what seems to have happened is the
Chinese side has interpreted that as a
challenge to the status quo and a threat
to their own forces on the Chinese side
effectively to the east and with regard
to the particular circumstances in which
these 20 Indian soldiers die do you have
any detail at all we have some details
from Indian accounts although how
reliable they are is open to question
what appears to have happened is a few
days ago the Indian and the Chinese
sighs agreed to effectively defuse the
crisis they agreed to disengage from
several positions the state
offers in three places the Galvan River
Valley is one of them the other two are
Pangong Lake to the south and the other
one is called Hot Springs which is also
to the south the Chinese site appears to
have agreed to disengage from at least
two of those including gal Wan Valley
what seems to have occurred is an Indian
patrol was waiting to meet the Chinese
side to discuss details of that
withdrawal of the details of that
disengagement so that both sides would
move several kilometers back we don't
know exactly what transpired but that
seems to have devolved into a fight now
troops on both sides don't use weapons
because they have various protocols and
agreements to not do so over the years
but the Chinese side appears to have
used stones clubs that sticks with nails
in them according to some Indian
accounts to attack the Indian side many
of whom subsequently were critically
injured and some of whom may have fallen
in some way in that punishing terrain
and succumbed to frostbite or exposure
overnight many others may have succumbed
to their injuries from that from that
conflict itself there have also been
some Chinese casualties but we don't
know how many and we don't know if there
have been any fatalities and as we
listen to these extraordinary accounts
coming in what's the strategic context
here aside from the national pride of
these moments being played out on the
international stage why are both
countries so focused on this particular
border well let's remember here that
India in China and not just ages -
biggest rising powers or two of the
world's most important rising powers
they fought a war over this patch of
land back in 1962 a war in which China
essentially rapidly defeated India and
that has been a historical trauma for
India in subsequent decades now they
stabilize the border in many ways as you
said there hasn't been a shot fired
since 1975 this is the worst clash since
1967 but at the same time they have been
competing for influence all over Asia
India doesn't like the fact that China
is allied very closely to Pakistan that
in the end Chinese navies is
increasingly busy in the Indian Ocean
and of course China doesn't like the
fact that India in India's if successive
Indian governments have moved ever
closer to the United States
China's rival and so the geopolitical
context effectively compounds the local
tensions at the border itself making for
a very volatile mix
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