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Washington aims to formalise its closer Indo-Pacific defence relations with India, Japan and Australia – also known as “the quad” – into something more closely resembling the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), a senior US State Department official said on Monday. The US government’s goal is to get the grouping of four countries and others in the region to work together as a bulwark against “a potential challenge from China” and “to create a critical mass around shared values and interests of those parties in a manner that attracts more countries in the Indo-Pacific and even from around the world...

China has vowed retaliation and India has bolstered its defenses amid a new flare-up in border tensions that saw both sides accuse the other of attempting to cross their disputed boundary in the Himalayan highlands. In the latest episode to emerge from an ongoing standoff that erupted in May and turned deadly the following month, the Chinese People's Liberation Army and Indian Armed Forces charged one other Monday with trying to redraw the contested Line of Actual Control between India-administered Ladakh and China-administered Aksai Chin. The details of the incident remain difficult to discern, but heated rhetoric from the two...

SRINAGAR, India—India said Monday its soldiers thwarted “provocative” movements by China’s military near a disputed border in the Ladakh region months into the rival nations’ deadliest standoff in decades.Local military commanders from the two countries were meeting along the disputed frontier on Monday to resolve the issues, India’s defense ministry said. It said India was committed to dialogue “but is also equally determined to protect its territorial integrity.”The statement said China’s People’s Liberation Army on Saturday night “carried out provocative military movements to change the status quo” and “violated the previous consensus arrived at during military and diplomatic engagements”...

NEW DELHI: The photograph of a 19-year-old Chinese soldier’s gravestone, circulating on the country’s social media, could be evidence of Chinese casualties in the Galwan Valley clash .. ........ The inscription on the gravestone, in Mandarin, says, “Tomb of martyr Chen Xiangrong, soldier of the Unit 69316 of the Southern Xinjiang Military District of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army 13th Regiment.Born in December 2001, from Pingnan county, Fujian province China. Sacrificed in the fight against India’s border defence in June 2020.”

Acting swiftly after the Galwan valley clash on June 15 in Eastern Ladakh, the Indian Navy sailed out its frontline warship for deployment in the South China Sea much to the displeasure of the Chinese who raised objections over the move during the talks between the two sides. The Chinese have been objecting to the presence of Indian Navy ships in the region where it has significantly expanded its presence since 2009 through artificial islands and military presence. "Soon after the Galwan clash broke out in which 20 of our soldiers were killed, the Indian Navy deployed one of its...

India has recently renewed its attention to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Indian Ocean, which occupy a key location in West-East maritime trade, with a series of infrastructure, economic, and defense projects that experts say will help India and its Indo-Pacific allies.The country is upgrading two airstrips on the islands into full-fledged fighter aircraft bases, according to Aug. 25 media reports, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has begun other development projects in the past few weeks.“The Andaman and Nicobar Islands provide critical access and key entry and exit points for the Indian Ocean. They oversee the Strait...

A military option to deal with transgressions by the Chinese Army in Ladakh is on the table, India's Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat has said, while adding that it will be exercised only if talks between the two armies and the diplomatic option fail. CDS General Bipin Rawat told India Today that transgressions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) occur due to differing perceptions about its alignment. "The military option to deal with the transgressions by the Chinese is still on but will be considered only if the talks at the diplomatic and military level fail,"...

India’s Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat has explicitly stated that a military option to deal with transgressions by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in Ladakh is on the table, but will be exercised only if talks between the two armies and the diplomatic option are unfruitful. “Transgressions along the LAC occur due to differing perceptions about its alignment. Defence services are tasked to monitor and carry out surveillance and prevent such transgressions turning into intrusions. Whole of government approach is adopted to peacefully resolve any such activity and prevent intrusions. Defence services always remain prepared for military actions...

India has reset the rules of engagement with Chinese troops along the entire stretch of their 3,488km long border, with the Indian Army now given a free hand to deal with any provocation by China. Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday approved the new tactical approach in a meeting he held on Sunday with Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat and the three service chiefs, a person familiar with the development said. “The commanders at LAC (line of actual control) can now give troops complete freedom of action to handle situations at the tactical level," the person said, on condition...