India awaits Modi's response to China after 20 killed in clubs and stones border clash

  • Modi, in a Twitter message, called for an all-party meeting on Friday to discuss the situation, but did not make any other comment on the confrontation between neighbours.
17 Jun, 2020

India impatiently awaited Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s response on Wednesday to the death of at least 20 soldiers in a border clash with Chinese troops as the country’s media vented its fury and political rivals goaded Modi over his silence.

Modi, in a Twitter message, called for an all-party meeting on Friday to discuss the situation, but did not make any other comment on the confrontation between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

China’s said it does not want to see any more clashes on the border with India following Monday’s violence. Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian reiterated that China was not to be blamed for the clash and said the overall situation at the border was stable and controllable.

According to Indian officials no shots were fired, but soldiers were hit with clubs and stones during a brawl that erupted between the two sides in the remote Galwan Valley, high in the mountains where India’s Ladakh region borders China’s Aksai Chin to the east.

India’s foreign ministry said there had been casualties on both sides, but China has not disclosed any casualties so far.

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