Galwan valley area has always belonged to China: Foreign Ministry of China

New Delhi, June 17: Day after the border clash between India and China on Monday night that left atleast 20 Indian soldiers and 35 Chinese soldiers dead and dozens of Indian soldiers believed captured, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian on Wednesday said, the Galwan valley area has always belonged to China.

"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."

The Chinese military on Tuesday alleged that the Indian troops again crossed the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Galwan Valley region and "purposefully launched provocative attacks", leading to "severe clashes and casualties."

The Chinese FM Spokesperson said, they had strictly asked India to stop infringing and provocative activity at border.

"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 & talk."

"We are having communication through diplomatic and military channels. The right and wrong of this is very clear. The incident happened on the Chinese side of LAC and China is not to blame for it", said the Chinese spokesperson,

He added, "From the Chinese side, we do not wish to see more clashes."

China said that Indian troops on Monday seriously violated the consensus of the two sides by illegally crossing the border twice and carrying and carrying out provocative attacks on the Chinese soldiers. This resulted in serious physical clashes, the Chinese foreign minister told Global Times.

Meanwhile, an Indian Army statement said that the Indian and Chinese troops have disengaged in the Galwan areas where they clashed on the night of June 15-16.