China claims sovereignty over Galwan Valley, accuses India of violating border protocols

China on Wednesday claimed the sovereignty of the Galwan Valley area and accused India of violating border protocols on border-related issues and the consensus of commander level talks.

"The sovereignty of the Galwan valley area has always belonged to China. The Indian border troops flip-flopped and seriously violated our border protocols on border-related issues and the consensus of our commander level talks: Zhao Lijian, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson.

"We ask India to strictly discipline its frontline troops, stop infringing and provocative activity at once, work with China and come back to the right track of resolving the differences through dialogue and talk," Zhao Lijian added.

On Tuesday, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said the violent face-off that happened on late evening and night of June 15 in the Galwan Valley was caused by Chinese troops' attempt to unilaterally change the status quo during de-escalation and the situation could have been avoided if the agreement at the higher level been scrupulously followed by the Chinese side.

Srivastava said both sides suffered casualties in the violent face-off and the Chinese side departed from the consensus to respect the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Galwan Valley.

Responding to media queries on the situation in the western sector of the India-China border, Srivastava said that India and China have been discussing through military and diplomatic channels the de-escalation of the situation in the border area in Eastern Ladakh.

( With inputs from ANI )