Indian commanders push for Chinese withdrawal at tense summit over disputed Himalayan border after first deadly clash in 45 years
- Indian and Chinese commanders met at Himalayan border on Monday
- Comes after deadly skirmish last week which left 20 Indian soldiers dead
- Indian commanders asked Chinese to withdraw at today's meeting, source said
- Deals worth £530m with Chinese firms have been put on hold amid tensions
Indian commanders today pushed for Chinese withdrawal at a tense summit over the disputed Himalayan border after the first deadly clash in 45 years.
The commanders met in Moldo, on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control, a line drawn through the barren mountains after India's crushing defeat in the 1962 Sino-Indian War.
Delhi said 20 of its soldiers were killed by Chinese troops wielding nail-studded clubs during a barbaric three-hour battle in the Galwan Valley last Monday.
The dispute led to calls for boycotts of Chinese goods and investment proposals from Chinese firms worth £530 million have been put on hold.
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An Indian fighter jet flies over a mountain range near Leh, the joint capital of the union territory of Ladakh, close to the Himalayan border with China on Monday
Activists of Bharatiya Janta Party's (BJP) Youth Wing shout slogans as they burn a portrait of Chinese President Xi Jinping, with a garland of shoes put around it, during a protest against China, in Amritsar on Monday
This is the Galwan valley where the brawl between Indian and Chinese soldiers took place. The unofficial border between the two countries runs through the middle of the photo on the dotted red line. Chinese bulldozers appear to have been diverting the river on the right of the photo, on their side of the border
An Indian government source said today's meeting lasted several hours, with the Indian side pushing China to withdraw its troops back to where they were in April.
Activists of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spray black paint on a poster depicting Chinese President Xi Jinping during an anti-China protest in Amritsar on Monday
China, in previous rounds of talks, had asked India to stop all construction work in what it says is Chinese territory.
Soldiers fought with rocks, metal rods and wooden clubs during last week's vicious skirmish, the culmination of a month long standoff.
China has not disclosed how many casualties it suffered, though an Indian minister has said around 40 Chinese soldiers may have been killed.
Many died after being knocked unconscious and plunging into the frigid glacial waters of the Galwan River.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a briefing in Beijing on Monday that the two sides were in communication through diplomatic and military channels.
Many in India have called for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's nationalist government to show it will not be bullied, remembering their country's humiliation in a brief border war against China in 1962.
Members of an Indian traders' body made a bonfire of Chinese goods at a market in New Delhi, pushing for a nationwide boycott of products made in China.
The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), which represents some 70 million traders, has asked federal and state governments to support a boycott of Chinese goods and cancel government contracts awarded to Chinese companies.
'The entire nation is filled with extreme anger and intensity to give a strong befitting response to China not only militarily but also economically,' CAIT National General Secretary Praveen Khandelwal wrote in a letter to chief ministers of some Indian states.
In prosperous Maharashtra, the government said it was putting three investment plans, including from Great Wall Motor Co, on hold.
'In the current environment we will wait for the federal government to announce a clear policy regarding these projects,' industries minister Subhash Desai said.
China is India's second-biggest trading partner, with bilateral trade worth $87 billion in the fiscal year ending March 2019, and a trade deficit of $53.57 billion in China's favour, the widest India has with any country.
Indian army convoy moves along the national Highway leading towards Ladakh, June 18
The brawl in part of the disputed Ladakh region along the Himalayan frontier was the deadliest in 45 years
The editor-in-chief of China's Global Times newspaper warned that the 'nationalists of India need to cool down'.
'China's GDP is five times that of India, military spending is three times,' Global Times editor Hu Xijin said in a post on Twitter.
The Global Times is published by the People's Daily, the official newspaper of China's ruling Communist Party.
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