China ‘in agreement with India’ to solve border tensions peacefully

China says it has agreed with India to peacefully resolve their Himalayan border tensions after the most violent confrontations in decades.

Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters at a Wednesday briefing that “both sides agree to resolve this matter through dialogue and consultation and make efforts to ease the situation and safeguard peace and tranquillity in the border area”.

Mr Zhao repeated Chinese claims that the clashes, in which an Indian officer and 19 soldiers were reportedly killed and many more injured, came after Indian forces “provoked and attacked Chinese personnel, which lead to fears, physical confrontation between the two sides’ border troops and resulted in casualties”.

China has not said if any of its troops were injured or killed.

“China has lodged strong protests and stern representations with the Indian side. We once again ask the Indian side to act on our consensus, strictly discipline its frontline troops not to cross the line, not make provocations and not to take unilateral actions that might complicate the situation,” Mr Zhao said.