China has voiced a strong protest to India over an illegal breach of the Line of Actual Control by Indian forces, China's Ministry of Defence said in a statement.
The ministry underlined that the Chinese military will take all necessary responses and will closely follow developments while firmly maintaining the territorial sovereignty, peace and stability in the border area.
"We demand that India immediately withdraw the troops that violated the Line of Actual Control, keep order among the troops on the front line, stick to commitments and prevent further escalation," the statement adds.
The border dispute between the two countries, which has effectively never been settled, has taken a turn for the worse in recent months.
Violent clashes first broke out on 5 May in the Galwan Valley, where the Indian region of Ladakh borders China’s Aksai Chin region, and soldiers from both sides suffered injuries in a skirmish involving roughly 250 troops. Tensions boiled over in mid-June, when 20 Indian servicemen died during a confrontation that also led to an unspecified number of fatalities among Chinese troops.
