China can make India suffer ‘severe’ military losses: Global Times

China is able to make India suffer more severe military losses than in the past if it wants to engage in competition, state-backed newspaper Global Times said on Tuesday, reported Reuters.

The two countries are witnessing a fresh border flare-up after the Galwan valley incident in June in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed in hand-to-hand fighting with Chinese troops, the neighbours’ most serious military clash in more than half a century.

Indian forces foiled an attempt by Chinese troops to occupy a hill in Ladakh, officials in New Delhi said on Monday.

On the same day, China’s military spokesman demanded India withdraw troops that Beijing said had illegally crossed their shared border. China’s foreign ministry said Chinese border troops had not crossed the line of actual control.

“India … said it preempted Chinese military inactivity,” the Global Times said in an editorial. “The word ‘preempt’ shows it was the Indian troops that first took destructive actions, and the Indian troops initiated the standoff this time.”

It added that India faced a “powerful China” and that New Delhi should not have any “illusions” of support from Washington over the issue.

“But if India wants to engage in competition, China has more tools and capability than India. If India would like a military showdown, the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) is bound to make the Indian army suffer much more severe losses than it did in 1962.”

The Global Times is published by the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of China’s ruling Communist Party.