India and China: New Border Clashes in Arunachal Pradesh Amid a Fragile Thaw

Confirmed clashes on the eastern section of the border

The head of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Shastrudjit Kapur, provoked a wide reaction in India by confirming that Indian and Chinese troops had clashed at several points along the de facto Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh. 'Over the past few days a situation has arisen in which a standoff (with Chinese troops) occurred in various places in Arunachal, and it is ongoing,' he told reporters last month. According to him, countering China by conventional means is difficult, since the Chinese army and border regiment 'have gone far ahead in investment and modernization.' This is reported by Deutsche Welle.

Reactions from Delhi, Beijing and local authorities diverge

The Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, Pema Khandu, acknowledged the border violations but downplayed their significance, saying such incidents are not new and the situation on the border is normal. He also admitted that the border is not properly demarcated and that China does not recognize the McMahon Line drawn by the British Empire in 1914, which separates Arunachal Pradesh from Tibet. The opposition Indian National Congress criticized these remarks and accused the ruling BJP, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of 'rationalizing' Chinese actions. Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh wrote that on this issue there is 'grave silence' from the premier and his circle. Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal linked the incidents to changes in patrol routes by Chinese forces, while Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun rejected the accusations, saying Chinese troops conduct 'normal patrols' and strictly observe bilateral agreements. It is also unclear whether the recent clashes involved physical violence.

Why the standoffs keep recurring

The LAC largely separates territories controlled by India and China, but since both sides patrol lands they consider their own, they periodically enter disputed zones. 'The reason is very simple — there is no agreed line between the two countries,' former Indian Ambassador to China Gautam Bambawale told DW. According to Indian data, the de facto border is 3,488 km long, but China claims it is shorter: Since 2003, the countries have held 25 rounds of talks between special representatives but have still not reached a border agreement. The dispute is especially sensitive in Arunachal Pradesh, which China considers part of southern Tibet.

A new factor: the hydropower project in Tibet

China expert at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Aravind Yelery, noted that the region has become strategically more important to Beijing: 'What is new is China's intensified attention to the eastern sector. Since the announcement of the 60-gigawatt Medog hydropower project in Tibet, Beijing has been sending infrastructure, troops, engineers and equipment to the area.' He described the LAC as 'not a thin line but a deep zone of overlapping claims, where patrols inevitably meet,' and believes the standoffs will continue until diplomacy produces concrete arrangements on the ground. In his assessment, the diplomatic promises of the leaders of the two countries will take time to implement, and there is a long distance between the promises and the measures that would prevent a repeat of 2020 — the disengagement of forces and mutual restraint.

Context: the thaw after 2020 and the unresolved dispute

Relations between Beijing and New Delhi remain burdened by the violence of 2020, when both countries accused each other of attempting to seize territory: in June of that year, a clash in the Galwan River valley in eastern Ladakh killed, according to Indian data, 20 Indian and — as China later confirmed — four Chinese servicemen. The new incidents are taking place at a time when the countries are trying to stabilize relations: part of the direct flights has been restored, and restrictions on travel and economic exchanges have been eased. The diplomatic reset accelerated after the meeting between Modi and Xi Jinping at the BRICS summit in Kazan in October 2024; the leaders also met at the SCO summit in Tianjin in August 2025 and at the BRICS summit in New Delhi this year. However, the border dispute remains unresolved.

What remains unclear

For India, the key question is whether the recent encounters reflect routine patrol disputes or a more serious change in Chinese activity along the border. Former Indian Ambassador to China Ashok Kantha noted that Chinese violations in the eastern sector are not new, but their scale and location matter: if the Chinese had pushed deeper into the Indian side of the LAC or established themselves in new areas, that would be a serious development that would completely violate the border agreements of 1993, 1996, 2005, 2012 and 2013, under which the sides committed to respecting the LAC and not changing the status quo. Alka Acharya, director of the Institute of Chinese Studies in New Delhi, urged against drawing conclusions without additional information: the authorities describe the incidents as