India, China border dispute bubbles over once again as Barahoti becomes new crisis zone

New Delhi: Amid a military standoff in Doklam, fresh tensions erupted in the country's western border where the Chinese troops have been accused of transgressing into the Indian territory, media reports said on Monday.

Soldiers of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) had reportedly entered some 200 meters into the Indian territory at 9 pm in Barahoti in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district on 25 July.

The Barahoti border has not been demarcated and the two sides differ on perception about it. Over 10 soldiers were reportedly involved in the incident.

According to reports, PLA soldiers had sent back an Indian team led by Chamoli District Magistrate which had gone there for a survey. 

A spokesperson for the Uttarakhand government said that they had watched the report on TV but they had not received any official information on the issue.

"We haven't received any official information as yet. The stationed security forces have not given us any information nor has the district magistrate" Madan Kaushik told ANI.

He said that a probe has been ordered into the matter.

This comes just three days before National Security Advisor Ajit Doval was to meet Chinese president Xi Jinping in Beijing.

Uttarakhand shares a 350-kilometre border with China. This was the second time Chinese troops crossed into the Indian side in Barahoti. In July last year, two PLA soldiers had reportedly crossed into the same area.

The latest incursion comes, even as both sides have been locked in an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation in Doklam in the eastern sector for over a month.

China has accused India of trespassing into its territory and stopping its road construction at Dokalam, while New Delhi maintains the area lies in Bhutan's territory.

The crisis erupted after Indian and Bhutanese troops foiled an attempt by the Chinese Army to encroach on a disputed enclave.

China responded by suspending the Kailash-Mansarovar yatra through the Nathu La pass.

A meeting between India's national security advisor and the Chinese President on the sidelines of a BRICS summit in Beijing last week failed to resolve the crisis, said to be the longest standoff between the two armies since 1962.

Another such standoff in 2013 had lasted for 21 days in Ladakh's Daulat Beg Oldie. The Chinese troops had reportedly entered 30 km into the Indian side claiming it to be a part of its Xinjiang province. They were, however, pushed back, the First Post reported.

India has boundary disputes with China in both the western and eastern sectors. It shares the longest international border in the eastern sector. China claims a part of Arunachal Pradesh as its territory, which it calls South Tibet.

In the western sector, the Aksai Chin region is the main flashpoint between the two countries. India claims some of the areas are part of Ladakh, while China maintains they are part of its Xinjiang region.

Besides the border row, the two sides also have other prickly issues to settle.

In November 2010, China started the practice of issuing stapled visas to people from Jammu and Kashmir. The same year, India cancelled defence exchanges with China after Beijing refused to permit a visa to Lt. Gen. B.S. Jaswal.

In 2009, China had objected to the then prime minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh. And in 2007, Beijing had also denied a visa to the then Arunachal Pradesh CM arguing that he would not require travel documents to visit his own country.