India Defense Head Says China Clash May Start Wider Conflict
India’s escalating border tensions with China could lead to a wider conflict, Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat said, adding to concerns for a nation that’s been battling another neighbor to its west for decades.
India and China have been caught in a tense military standoff along their Himalayan border since May. Both sides have moved thousands of troops, tanks and missiles to the frontier, while fighter jets are on stand-by. Both armies are now preparing to dig in for the bitterly cold winter at the high-altitude and mostly uninhabited terrain.
Indian and Chinese soldiers have engaged in skirmishes in which shots have been fired for the first time in over four decades. Some 20 Indian and an unknown number of Chinese troops were killed in a particularly violent clash along the border in June.
Rawat also warned India may have to reckon with twin conflicts, with Pakistan and China at the same time, along its western and northern borders. “Constant friction with two of our nuclear armed neighbors with whom India has fought wars, increasingly acting in collusion poses an omni-present danger” to regional stability, Rawat said, adding that there was “potential for escalation threatening our territorial integrity and strategic cohesion.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-11-06/india-defense-chief-says-china-clash-may-lead-to-wider-conflict?srnd=politics-vp