(PatrioticPost.com)- Last Tuesday, India’s NDTV cited unnamed sources that claimed India’s Air Force scrambled jets multiple times in the last month to respond to “enhanced Chinese air activity” on their mutual border.
The report came after the defense ministries of both India and China confirmed last Monday that an altercation occurred the previous Friday between Indian and Chinese troops in Arunachal Pradesh, a far-east region of the Indian Himalayas bordering Tibet.
According to the Indian government, on December 9, hundreds of PLA soldiers crossed the border illegally, forcing Indian soldiers to respond with violence until the PLA troops withdrew.
Beijing confirmed that the skirmish had occurred, but claimed it was Indian soldiers that illegally crossed the border into China that prompted the scuffle.
Both countries said only minor injuries were reported in the skirmish.
After last weekend’s skirmish, NDTV reported that India’s military had documented a heightened Chinese air presence over Arunachal Pradesh which forced the Air Force to scramble jets two or three times over the past month.
In light of last weekend’s incident, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration has increased its aggressive rhetoric against China.
Speaking to the Indian Parliament last Tuesday, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh confirmed the “scuffle” in Arunachal Pradesh and said the Indian troops responded to the Chinese incursion in a “firm and resolute manner.” He said the army “bravely prevented the PLA from transgressing into our territory” and forced them to retreat over the border.
Since the summer of 2020, China and India have been fighting along their mutual border in the Galwan Valley deep in the Himalayas.
According to India, China lost twice as many soldiers as India did in the battle. At the time, Beijing refused to identify any soldier lost in the fight. Several months later, it claimed only four of its soldiers were killed.
