My piece in @TheEconomist on "the first combat fatalities on the mountainous border between India and China in 45 years, drawing to a close an era in which Asia’s two largest powers had managed their differences without bloodshed." economist.com/asia/2020/06/1… 
"Indian military sources" to The Wire: “The area where they met is very treacherous and mountainous. In the pushing and shoving, the three seem to have slipped. We don’t know if it was deliberate or it happened during the pushing and shoving” thewire.in/security/india…
"Sources said the Indian Army patrol had set out to check on positions of the Chinese troops to ensure they had retreated. The troops were attacked by a much larger group of Chinese soldiers, said the sources, who did not wish to be identified." thehindu.com/news/national/…
"900+ troops on each side were involved ... started Monday night, lasted several hours & ended on early hours of Tuesday. Most deaths occurred as soldiers fell-off cliffs during a physical fight in the narrow Galwan valley into the river at 15,000 feet" tribuneindia.com/news/nation/20…
"Stones, Steel poles, bamboo poles with nails embed on them, were used by the Chinese, to attack the Indian troops. The Peoples’ Liberation Army (PLA) of China, have also suffered fatal casualties." tribuneindia.com/news/nation/20…
"Detailing the incident, sources said it occurred at almost 15,000 feet ... PLA had build a fresh post and set up arctic tents at vantage position on the south bank of the Galwan river. The post gave a clear view to Chinese of the vital [DSDBO road]" tribuneindia.com/news/nation/20…
"Troops of the 16th battalion of the Bihar Regiment noticed this fresh military post near patrol point 14 and asked the Chinese to vacate. The number of Indian Troops was greater than the Chinese on the spot, a clash ensued. The PLA sent in reinforcements another clash ensued."
'The Indian soldiers, the sources said, were outnumbered at this point. Since the engagement was happening on a narrow slope, some soldiers fell into the confluence of the Shyok and Galwan rivers, the sources added. More Indian troops then rushed in ...' theprint.in/defence/at-lea…
"It was only in the morning that the bodies were found, including those of the soldiers who had fallen into the river ... While some of the deaths were the result of the clashes, the other soldiers died of hypothermia after falling into the cold waters of the river, sources said"
India "was supposed to stay to the west of the river junction and the Chinese to the east of the LAC — to prevent faceoffs. An argument, officers said, started over the position of Chinese soldiers who had started erecting a new post on the southern bank" indianexpress.com/article/india/…
A grim detail from the Indian Express. "Some [Indian] bodies were recovered from the river while others had signs of being brutalised" indianexpress.com/article/india/…
.@ajaishukla: "Senior officers recounted extreme Chinese brutality to the Indian prisoners, with some of them being pushed over cliffs and soldiers’ bodies being recovered from the Galwan River." business-standard.com/article/curren…
"senior government sources said the Chinese troops who had intruded into Indian-claimed and patrolled territory last month continued building their defences, notwithstanding talk about de-escalation and disengagement." business-standard.com/article/curren…
"Reports are also emerging that Chinese troops have entered the Depsang area, which lies to the north of Galwan, in the Daulat Beg Oldi sector. Here they have reportedly secured the areas up to PP 12 and PP 13." business-standard.com/article/curren…
"this was clearly not a temporary occupation of disputed territory of the kind that took place in Depsang in 2013, or in Chumar in 2014. This time PLA soldiers are digging defences, preparing bunkers and deployed artillery guns to the rear" business-standard.com/article/curren…
"PLA intrusions into Ladakh do not appear to be a localised event, being spread across a frontage of 2,000 km, including the area of responsibility of different PLA brigades and divisions. That suggests centralised coordination at the higher military and political levels."
Satellite photos of the Galwan valley, where the India-China brawl occurred
US sources suggest 35 Chinese dead. "According to the U.S. assessment, the Chinese government considers the casualties among their troops as a humiliation for its armed forces and has not confirmed the numbers for fear of emboldening other adversaries"
And yet ... *crickets*
Detailed account from Praveen Swami. Indian troops took issue with a Chinese tent in a buffer zone in Galwan, set up after the disengagement agreement. They burnt the tent. The PLA then later (not on the same day) overwhelmed and attacked the Indian unit. news18.com/news/india/pla…
"Worryingly, information from the ground suggests that several Indian soldiers, including four officers, are missing and could have been taken captive by a vastly larger Chinese force. Their status is still not known." economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/o…
"The government has given powers to the armed forces to make emergency procurements to stock up its war reserves in the wake of escalating conflict with China ... the Navy has also been given the go-ahead to deploy its assets near the Malacca Strait" economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/a…
'A senior Indian military official told the BBC there were 55 Indians versus 300 Chinese, who he described as "the Death Squad". "They hit our boys on the head with metal batons wrapped in barbed wire. Our boys fought with bare hands," ...' bbc.co.uk/news/world-asi…
I wouldn't read too much into this. It's understandable that the Indian government wants to project strength at this point. But if India is planning a tactical response of some sort, it would make sense to deter against wider escalation.
India's foreign ministry: "the Chinese side sought to erect a structure in Galwan valley on our side of the LAC. While this became a source of dispute, the Chinese side took pre-meditated and planned action ... responsible for the resulting violence" mea.gov.in/press-releases…
Encouragingly, neither. India nor China seek to escalate things. Both stress the importance of implementing the June 6th "disengagement" agreement. But of course the clash seems to have erupted while India was monitoring and enforcing just that agreement.
This may shed light on why China put a tent in an area in Galwan that it was supposed to withdraw from as per the June 6th agreement. "At PP 17 [i.e. farther south in the Hot Springs area], China had apparently raised objection to some Indian hutments"
economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/a…
economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/a…
"Galwan river area has a painful history ... PLA surrounding a freshly set up Indian Army post in July 1962, in what would be one of the early triggers to the Sino-Indian war. At an Army post that was overrun at Galwan, 33 Indian soldiers were killed" economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/a…
Form Modi's statement: “our soldiers died having battled and killed the enemy”. So an official claim of Chinese fatalities.
thehindu.com/news/national/…
thehindu.com/news/national/…
"A number of Indian troops were captured, two Indian military officials said in interviews, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations. Their fate remains unclear ..." nytimes.com/2020/06/17/wor…
'“India has no options, or limited ones,” said Rahul Bedi, a military analyst in Delhi. “Appeasement is a risk,” he added, but one that “may be more digestible for now.”' nytimes.com/2020/06/17/wor…
'“There have to be costs attached to Chinese behavior,” [@samirsaran] added. “India may have to be prepared for series of limited skirmishes to occasional conflicts. Maybe that is the new normal in our region.”' nytimes.com/2020/06/17/wor…
"The Indian troops assaulted the Chinese post with brutal strength and seriously injured nearly 55-56 Chinese solider. Many casualties were inflicted at this point. Sources said there were many fatalities on the Chinese side" indiatoday.in/india/story/bl…
"There apparently was a brigadier-level Chinese officer on the post who waved for peace asking the troops to stop fighting ... Hand-to-hand fighting continued late into the night." indiatoday.in/india/story/bl…
Meeting at Galwan "ended in a stalemate on Wednesday ... PLA has not pulled back all its troops from the Galwan valley, nor removed all the military-grade arctic tents ... More than 1,000 troops of each side are still in the valley & ridges ~6km long" tribuneindia.com/news/nation/me…
"The meeting today was ‘tense’ ... PLA was being ‘obstructionist’ since Tuesday morning – hours after the clash. They did not allow Indians to rescue their men at the south bank of the Galwan. The Major General had to intervene." tribuneindia.com/news/nation/me…
This isn't over yet. @ajaishukla: "reliable sources reported that Chinese troops have ingressed several kilometres into the Depsang plain between the Galwan-Shyok river junction and the Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) area" ajaishukla.blogspot.com/2020/06/india-…
Nor is Galwan over. "Even as talks for deescalation were on at the military level, the Chinese side seems to have carried out a move of deception by bringing in several hundred soldiers and heavy construction equipment into the Galwan valley" economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/c…
'The “days of walk-in options for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) are over” said the [Indian] sources' m.timesofindia.com/india/indian-a… Do these Indian sources realise they are implying that India has until now had a policy of "walk-in" for the PLA?
