The ties between India and China will "remain strained" in wake of "lethal clash" in 2020, the US intelligence community has told lawmakers as it also expressed concerns over any potential crisis between India and Pakistan.
In its annual threat assessment presented before the Senate Armed Services Committee during a Congressional hearing on Tuesday, the US intelligence community said the expanded military posture by both India and China along disputed border elevates risk of armed confrontation between two nuclear powers that might involve direct threats to US persons and interests and calls for America's intervention. "Relations between New Delhi and Beijing will remain strained in wake of lethal clash in 2020, the most serious in decades," it said. Previous standoffs have demonstrated that persistent low-level friction on Line of Actual Control (LAC) has potential to escalate swiftly, the report said.
India has been consistently maintaining that peace and tranquillity along LAC were key for overall development ofbilateral ties. The eastern Ladakh border standoff between Indian and Chinese militaries erupted on May 5, 2020, following a violent clash in Pangong lake areas. Both sides gradually enhanced their deployment by rushing in tens of thousands of soldiers as well as heavy weaponry.
India and China have held 15 rounds of military talks so far to resolve eastern Ladakh row. As a result of the talks, the two sides completed disengagement process last year on north and south banks of Pangong lake and in Gogra area.
Each side currently has around 50,000 to 60,000 troops along LAC in sensitive sector. The assessment also noted that crises between India and Pakistan are of particular concern because of risk - however low -of an escalatory cycle between two nuclear-armed states.