At a regularly scheduled news conference on Monday, Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, emphasized that the two sides were holding military talks. Tensions burst into the open in June, when troops from both countries engaged in a deadly brawl along the border of the Ladakh region in northern India. No shots were fired in that battle, stemming from a tacit understanding that neither side along the tense Himalayan border should use firearms. As many as 100,000 troops from the Indian and Chinese armies are now facing off across inhospitable mountain passes in subzero temperatures in the Ladakh region alone, military experts estimate. Since the summer, both sides have tried to ease tensions.

Source: New York Times January 25, 2021 15:22 UTC