| 2022 Yangtse clash | |||||||||
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| Part of the Sino-Indian border dispute | |||||||||
 A map of the Yangtse region in Tawang showing the alignment of the LAC (marked with violet) in the vicinity of the Chumi Gyatse Falls. The clash occurred near the border ridge at 4,700 metres (15,400 ft) elevation.[1] | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 India |
 China | ||||||||
| Units involved | |||||||||
 People's Liberation Army of China | |||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 34 injured (at least 6 serious)[2][3] | 40 injured [2] | ||||||||
The Yangtse clash of 9 December 2022 occurred at night between the troops of the Indian Army and the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) along their mutually contested Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Yangtse region of Tawang in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. Violent clashes ensued after the two armies confronted each other with nail-studded clubs and other melee weapons near positions on a border ridgeline in close vicinity of the revered Buddhist site of Chumi Gyatse Falls. The border incident marked the most serious clash between the two armies along their undemarcated frontier since the Galwan Valley clash in June 2020, which had led to the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers and an unknown number of dead on the Chinese side.
Independent researchers using satellite imagery found evidence of Chinese troops, numbering about 300 according to reports, from a newly constructed border village moving up towards two Indian outposts at about 4,700 metres (15,400 ft) elevation. This provoked a clash according to the Indian government, which necessitated sending reinforcements from a forward base.[1] Spiked clubs studded with nails and other melee weapons were used in a skirmish causing a large number of injuries on both sides. Six Indian soldiers with severe injuries were flown to Guwahati for medical treatment. The casualties on the Chinese side have not been formally disclosed. The Chinese PLA has claimed that the Indian troops transgressed the border while their troops were performing customary patrol duty on their side of the border. This did not receive corroboration from the researchers.[1]
Yangtse, besides the larger Arunachal Pradesh region, had been the site of several such clashes in the period leading up to the latest incident. It had been recognised as one of the twelve contested border regions by the two countries in 1995. The border region is part of the Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh, which is an important centre of Tibetan Buddhism, and has been claimed by China as part of its larger claim on Arunachal Pradesh, which it avers to be a part of South Tibet.
- ^ a b c Ruser, Nathan; Grewal, Baani (December 2022), Zooming into the Tawang border skirmishes, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Sec. "The Recent Skirmish"
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
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