NEW DELHI, December 13. /TASS/. Indian authorities held talks with China over the latest border incident asking Beijing to maintain peace and tranquility in border regions, India’s Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said on Tuesday.

"The issue (an armed incident at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh on December 9 - TASS) has also been taken up with the Chinese side through diplomatic channels," he wrote on Twitter.

"The Chinese side was asked to refrain from such actions and maintain peace and tranquility along the border," the top military official noted.

Earlier, Singh confirmed an attempt by the servicemen of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to cross into Indian territory in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. According to him, there were no fatalities among Indian personnel but some of them sustained wounds.

Border incident

On Monday, the ANI news agency, citing its sources, reported that on December 9, border troops of India and China clashed in the Tawang sector. According to the agency, the Chinese servicemen came to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) which separates the two countries but were stopped by Indian troops "in a firm and resolute manner." Several servicemen on both sides sustained wounds. Both sides immediately left that area, according to the sources.

In May 2020, clashes occurred in the mountainous Ladakh region on the border of the two countries which resulted in casualties on both sides. India and China brought heavy artillery, tanks and aviation to the area. After a series of military and diplomatic talks last year, Beijing and New Delhi began a reciprocal troop withdrawal from the border. The absence of a demarcated border between India and China in the Himalayas (the two countries are separated by the LAC) has been the source of tensions for decades. In 1959, India reported that the Chinese side divested of a part of the state of Arunachal Pradesh and in 1962, an Indian-Chinese armed conflict erupted with about 38,000 square kilometers in Ladakh and Aksai Chin belonging to India coming under China’s control.