The US has offered its condolences to India after 20 soldiers died in a violent clash with Chinese People’s Liberation Army in Galwan Valley at the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh on Monday night.
“We extend our deepest condolences to the people of India for the lives lost as a result of the recent confrontation with China. We will remember the soldiers’ families, loved ones, and communities as they grieve,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted.
The US Mission in India also offered their heartfelt condolences to the families of the soldiers who were lost at Galwan valley.
Following reports of violence in Ladakh, the United States had on Tuesday voiced hope that the two countries will peacefully resolve differences.
The US State Department also said that it is “closely monitoring” the situation between Indian and Chinese forces along LAC.
Referring to the death of 20 Indian soldiers, the state department had said, “We offer our condolences to their families”.
Meanwhile, a top American Senator said on Thursday that dor the sake of grabbing territory, the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) of China appears to have instigated the most violent clash between the two Asian giants.
“On land, for the sake of grabbing territory, the PLA appears to have instigated the most violent clash between China and India since those nations went to war in 1962,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a major foreign policy speech on the floor of the House, news agency PTI reported.
“Needless to say, the rest of the world has watched with grave concern this violent exchange between two nuclear states. We are encouraging de-escalation and hoping for peace,” McConnell said.
“But the world could not have received a clearer reminder that the PRC is dead-set on brutalizing people within their own borders, challenging and remaking the international order anew in their image to include literally redrawing the world map,” he said.
US President Donald Trump last month had offered to mediate between India and China, although his administration could not offer further details on what he was proposing.
India is an ally of the United States, which has also been engaged in a diplomatic war of words amid coronavirus and trade deals. Alice Wells, then the top State Department official for South Asia, last month said that China was seeking to upset the status quo with India and had to be “resisted.”
As many as 20 Indian Armymen including officers were killed in an unprecedented face-off in eastern Ladakh with Chinese People’s Liberation Army soldiers attacking a small group of Indian Army men on patrol, resulting in fatalities.
According to an AFP report, the soldiers were not shot but were killed in hand-to-hand combat on Indian territory. The soldiers threw punches and stones at each other and the Chinese troops allegedly used rods and nail-studded clubs during the fight that lasted for hours until midnight on Monday.