Exchange of fire between Indian and Pakistani troops is a common incident in the Indo-Pak border area. Indian troops even exchange fire with another of its Muslim majority neighbor Bangladeshi border guards occasionally. But after the year of 1975, not a single bullet was shot in the India-China border area. A bilateral treaty has prevented exchange of fire between these two hostile neighbors. These two countries share a long land border and many of the border regions are disputed.
India has always insisted China should accept the border line drawn by the British colonial power which China never accepted. The Chinese argument is, India should accept the border line existed during the Chinese Imperial rule. The reality is British colonial power managed to grab some territory from China and annexed that to British India. It seems now the emerging superpower China wants to get back those territories, which India denies.
This border dispute triggered a war between India and China in 1962. Despite extensive support from western nations, India faced a devastating defeat to China.
In Recent months, Indian has tried to secure some disputed territories by constructing connecting roads which has infuriated China. They have retaliated with deploying more troops in disputed border regions of Lahakh.
As per the treaty, troops of these hostile neighbors can’t use firearms so they often engage hand to hand fighting. At least 20 Indian soldiers and army officers were killed and 10 others were captured by Chinese troops in a hand to hand fighting earlier this month. Now China is sending mountain climber and martial art trainer in the disputed Ladakh border region. India has already deployed fighter jets in Srinagar airfield of Kashmir which is another disputed territory as Pakistan claims that territory either should be part of Pakistan or should be an independent state showing respect to the wish of Kashmiris.
In response to Indian fighter jet deployment China has deployed surface to air missile system.
