India Sends Army Chief to Chinese Border in Himalayas

India sent a four-star army general to its northern Ladakh territory on Thursday to oversee troops’ operational readiness amid an escalating border dispute with China.

On Tuesday, Tibetan officials said an ethnic Tibetan commander in the Indian Army was killed on Saturday in a border confrontation in Ladakh. A Tibetan soldier of the same battalion was also injured in the conflict near Pangong Tso (lake), located on India’s western Himalayan border with China. The two Asian neighbors have been engaged in an ongoing standoff since a skirmish in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley on June 15 killed 20 Indian soldiers and an estimated 40 Chinese troops.

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On Wednesday, India also sent its air force chief to the country’s eastern Himalayan border to assess the local combat units’ operational readiness.

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The Indian military has reinforced both its western and eastern Himalayan borders over the past few days following its border conflict with China in Ladakh over the weekend. According to the Hindustan Times, the Indian Army has strengthened its positions “on the heights along the southern bank of Pangong Tso” lake in Ladakh, site of Saturday’s reportedly deadly dispute. On Wednesday, Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported that India had moved troops Anjaw, in its northeasternmost state of Arunachal Pradesh. The region is bordered by Tibet to the north and is also claimed by China.

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