China hands back 10 Indian soldiers taken during border clash - Indian official source

[snoop1130]

China hands back 10 Indian soldiers taken during border clash - Indian official source

By Sanjeev Miglani, Devjyot Ghoshal

 

An Indian Army convoy moves along a highway leading to Ladakh, at Gagangeer in Kashmir's Ganderbal district June 18, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Ismail

 

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - China has returned 10 Indian soldiers captured during a deadly border clash earlier this week, a Indian government source said on Friday, as two Asian nuclear powers sought to de-escalate tensions on their disputed border in the western Himalayas.

 

The Indian army did not comment on the release, which according to the source took place on Thursday evening, instead referring to a government statement that said all of its soldiers were accounted for.

 

Twenty Indian soldiers, including an officer were killed in vicious hand-to-hand combat on Monday night in the Galwan Valley, according to the government, making it the deadliest clash on the India-China border in more than five decades.

 

India has said the Chinese side also suffered casualties too, but the Chinese government has not disclosed any.

 

Tensions remain high, despite the two governments agreeing they would seek to de-escalate the confrontation. And a day after the funerals of some of the soldiers in their hometowns, the public mood was hardening in India, with growing calls for revenge and a boycott of Chinese-made goods.

 

Since the clash, military officials have held talks but there is no sign of a breakthrough.

 

“The situation remains as it was, there is no disengagement, but there is also no further build up of forces,” said a second Indian government source, who is aware of the ground situation.

 

The official said at least 76 Indian troops were wounded during the clash, and had been hospitalised.

 

“No one is critical as of now,” he said.

 

With his nation in shock over the loss its soldiers lives, Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces one of the most difficult foreign policy challenges since he came to power in 2014.

 

On Friday evening, Modi will hold an all-party meeting in New Delhi to discuss the crisis on the border with China.

 

U.S. SYMPATHY

 

The United States offered condolences to India on Friday over the deaths its soldiers.

 

“We extend our deepest condolences to the people of India for the lives lost as a result of the recent confrontation with China,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a message posted on Twitter.

 

“We will remember the soldiers’ families, loved ones, and communities as they grieve.”

 

Having actively sought greater economic engagement with China, Modi is compelled to review the state of those ties, just at a time when Sino-U.S. relations have also deteriorated.

 

As a non-aligned nation, India has always sought to balance the influence of super-powers, while maintaining an independent course in foreign policy matters.

 

But in the past two decades, New Delhi has built closer political and defence ties with Washington, and the United States has become one of India’s top arms suppliers.

 

In the wake of the rising tensions with Beijing, there are rising calls from top former Indian diplomats for an even tighter relationship with the United States and its allies such as Japan to help face the economic and military might of China.

 

“This is an opportunity for India to align its interests much more strongly and unequivocally with the U.S. as a principal strategic partner and infuse more energy into relations with Japan, Australia, and ASEAN,” former foreign secretary Nirupama Rao wrote in The Hindu newspaper.

 

India has accused the Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley of acting in a premeditated manner, attacking Indian soldiers with iron rods and batons studded with nails.

 

Satellite images suggest that in the days leading up to the clash, China brought in heavy machinery, cut a trail into the mountainside and may have even dammed a river.

 

The images taken a day after the clash show an increase in activity from a week earlier.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-06-19

 

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[rupert the bear]

more of the same from china as it continues its aggressive push....everywhere.it was an ambush,china stated it had no captives and..... india this week is in a group of several other nations being bullied.oz and canada come to mind.hk as well.not bad for just 1 week. those 3 plus the USA if they boycott china goods we could see the great wall crumbling down,beats a war and achieves the objective,come on europe as you wont be getting any covid compo!

[RichardColeman]

Ding Ding : 10 rich Indians vs 50 coached Chinese.

 

[DefaultName]

Not surprising, no one wants Indians.

 

[nausea]

25 minutes ago, DefaultName said:

Not surprising, no one wants Indians.

Talk to Silicon Valley about that.

 

Yeah, reading the report sounds like a set up -

"acting in a premeditated manner, attacking Indian soldiers with iron rods and batons studded with nails."

"in the days leading up to the clash, China brought in heavy machinery, cut a trail into the mountainside".

Edited June 20, 2020 by nausea

[evadgib]

This 'little skirmish' was far bigger than they'd have us believe...

[CorpusChristie]

4 minutes ago, evadgib said:

This 'little skirmish' was far bigger than they'd have us believe...

Indian Army had over 100 soldiers injured, dead or captured 

[RobFord]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-53118473
 

Good article from the BBC explaining why no shots were fired, and they’re fighting with clubs and stones.

The Chinese set the Indians up, fighting with light riot gear for the first time. 

Well worth the read. 

[evadgib]

3 hours ago, RobFord said:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-53118473
 

Good article from the BBC explaining why no shots were fired, and they’re fighting with clubs and stones.

The Chinese set the Indians up, fighting with light riot gear for the first time. 

Well worth the read. 

Two sizable and well equipped armies wading in using medieval weaponry? Somehow methinks we're only getting half the story....again.

[CorpusChristie]

10 minutes ago, evadgib said:

Two sizable and well equipped armies wading in using medieval weaponry? Somehow methinks we're only getting half the story....again.

I could understand it Beijing and New Delhi had an agreement that neither side would use weapons and this latest incident was a localised skirmish with neither side wanting to escalate it by using weapons 

[Dumbastheycome]

Intriguing subject of the moment. At a  time when the focus of opinion about anything Chinese is presented automatically as negative there are some curious inconsistencies in what has  been  made public.

"No border incursions  occurred".

Ostensibly by either side?

So a serious  brawl breaks out  on the disputed  chalk line and heads are beaten in in deference to using guns by  wielding clubs and hurling  rocks by each side??????

Reports are that somehow it was instigated  by  Chinese deployment  of personell and equipment to the specific area. No reports of  any equivalent or prior similar action  by  India. ( note: no media reports).

Yet without  border incursion somehow  China hands silently back 10 Indian participants.

Under  Modi  India  has been  increasingly  more  militant overall. The perception of peaceful and  humble  Hindu should be reconsidered.

India is in many ways a viable competitor to China in an inevitable battle to become a part of the Asian influence globally. It is quite possible that with the backing  of other specific interests that India is just another testing tool being tried  against the CCP.

IMO the organized distractions we are regularly presented with need be acknowledged but  ignored in favour  of seeking out the seemingly innocuous maneuvers they overshadow.

There need be greater comprehension of the  fact that events  from last week, last  month, last year that we were post event informed about in general terms  have not actually  simple been resolved, dissolved, or  disappeared ! In the background they continue in terms of political agitation without obvious headlines.

The fact is that at the moment the world is  really in a serious state of complex  turmoil with dubious outcome regardless of  naive expectations of  resumed "normality".

Understand that the  term being promoted as the "New Normal" is as yet without definition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[tonbridgebrit]

20 hours ago, Dumbastheycome said:

 

Yet without  border incursion somehow  China hands silently back 10 Indian participants.

Yes, China silently handed back 10 Indian participants.  The media through out the world has reported about the 10 Indians. But the media in China, they have said nothing about handing over these Indians.

Why is that ?  I think Beijing is trying to de-escalate the whole incident. Revealing the full extent of this incident to the Chinese people, talking about how China captured 10 Indian soldiers, this will simply cause a number of Chinese people in China to demonstrate and show their sense of nationalism for China. Beijing does not want to see Chinese people burning Indian flags in Chinese cities.

[LomSak27]

On 6/19/2020 at 5:21 PM, snoop1130 said:

India has accused the Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley of acting in a premeditated manner, attacking Indian soldiers with iron rods and batons studded with nails.

 

Satellite images suggest that in the days leading up to the clash, China brought in heavy machinery, cut a trail into the mountainside and may have even dammed a river.

 

China is not beset by doubt, guilt or heaven forbid, self loathing, after unleashing a worldwide pandemic, killing a half a million so far, and crushing national economies from Asia to South America. No, In fact they are using the pandemic and resulting economic depression to lash out at weaker countries and economies. It's always eye opening to see what a country will do if they think they can get away with it. Tea leaves for the future.

 

'...but on the other hand they are corrupt, supple and exacting, yielding to their superiors and tyrannical to those who fall into their power' -- Sir James Brooke, Raja of Sarawak

[Dumbastheycome]

48 minutes ago, tonbridgebrit said:

Yes, China silently handed back 10 Indian participants.  The media through out the world has reported about the 10 Indians. But the media in China, they have said nothing about handing over these Indians.

Why is that ?  I think Beijing is trying to de-escalate the whole incident. Revealing the full extent of this incident to the Chinese people, talking about how China captured 10 Indian soldiers, this will simply cause a number of Chinese people in China to demonstrate and show their sense of nationalism for China. Beijing does not want to see Chinese people burning Indian flags in Chinese cities.

I would agree . Which IMO creates curiosity about the vague but slanted  emphasis on the CCP's sudden military movements to this border. Where is there any detail on instigation and why at this time?