China, India in Another Border Skirmish 1,000 Miles From Standoff

Minor Injuries on Both Sides as Soldiers Brawl at Pangong Lake

The ongoing military standoff between India and China forces in a disputed mountain area near Bhutan remains unresolved, but the rising tensions between the two countries saw an entirely separate skirmish break out some 1,000 miles away in the northwest, along the Kashmir border.

Soldiers from the Chinese Army were reported to have twice crossed the border along the shores of Pangong Lake, prompted a quick reaction from Indian border patrols. Neither side appears to have fired a shot during this, but brawls were reported.

Indeed, the reports don’t even make it clear if the Chinese brought guns with them, as Indian media reported them to have been armed with rocks and iron pipes and the two sides mostly threw stones at one another for awhile before finally breaking it up and returning to their respective patrols.

The border between India and China is broadly unmarked and in several places disputed, with both sides claiming a lot of overlapping territory. This sort of stone-throwing melee isn’t common, but likely reflects the mounting tensions between the two nations, both nuclear armed and the two most populous on the planet.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.