NEW DELHI: An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) of the Indian Army has been confirmed to have crashed into the Chinese side of the border and India’s defence ministry said on Thursday it was on a regular training mission and lost contact with ground control due to technical problem, The Hindu said. It was not clear when the incident occurred.

In a statement, the Indian side also claimed that “as per standard protocol, the Indian border security personnel immediately alerted their Chinese counterparts to locate the UAV”.

The Indian clarification came in the wake of China’s defence ministry accusing India of violating its airspace.

Delhi claims it was on a ‘regular training mission’

“The Indian move violated China’s territorial sovereignty. We strongly express our dissatisfaction and opposition,” deputy director of the Chinese Army’s western theatre combat bureau Zhang Shuil, said in a statement.

In response, the Indian side said: “An Indian UAV which was on a regular training mission inside the Indian territory lost contact with the ground control due to some technical problem and crossed over the LAC [Line of Actual Control] in the Sikkim Sector.”

Earlier, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a media briefing in Beijing that “an Indian UAV invaded China’s airspace and crashed in the Sikkim section of the China-India border”. He said the Chinese border troops had taken a “professional and responsible attitude” to verify the device.

“I want to point out that the Sikkim section of the China-India border has been delimited,” he said, in an apparent reference to the 1890 China-British Treaty.

According to Press Trust of India, Mr Geng did not spell out when the incident took place.

“The action of the Indian side violated China’s sovereignty and it is not conducive to the peace and tranquillity of the border area and China is dissatisfied with this and lodged solemn representation with the Indian side,” Mr Geng said.

In a diplomatic protest to India, “China asked the Indian side to stop the activities of the devices near the border and work with China to maintain peace and tranquillity of the border areas”, he said.

Mr Geng refused to confirm if the incident took place near Doklam, where the two countries were locked in a 73-day-long border standoff that ended on Aug 28.

Published in Dawn, December 8th, 2017