Sino-Indian War

Twenty Indian soldiers were killed during "hand-to-hand' fighting with Chinese troops in a disputed Himalayan region, India's military said, the first deadly clash between the nuclear powers in decades.

Both sides blamed the other for June 15's violence, which followed weeks of rising tensions over their competing territorial claims, with thousands of extra troops deployed.

Indian and Chinese military forces are reported to be preparing for the possibility of an armed conflict over a disputed area in the Himalayas should a peaceful solution not be found.

Relations between India and China have deteriorated in recent times. The two Asian neighbours have warned each other over the current situation in Doklam, an area near Sikkim that China claims as its own. India deployed soldiers in Doklam early in June in order to stop the construction of a road by the Chinese Army. New Delhi claimed that the Chinese action has security implications for India.

China has strongly condemned the recent Pentagon report (submitted to the Congress) in which the US Department of Defence mentioned that Beijing enhanced its military capabilities along the border with India in order to ramp up its geopolitical ambitions in the region, saying that it was Washington's deliberate attempt to "severely" damage the mutual trust between the two Asian neighbours.