‘Can’t confirm that’: White House on report that US provided intelligence to Indian military to repel Chinese ‘incursion’

Washington, Mar 21 (PTI) The White House has refused to confirm reports that the US provided crucial real-time intelligence to the Indian Army last year that helped it successfully thwart Chinese incursions in the Himalayas.

“No, I can’t confirm that,” John Kirby, the White House’s National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, told reporters Monday at a daily press briefing when asked about the briefing.

China’s People’s Liberation Army in an exclusive statement said India was able to thwart Chinese military incursions into the border area in the Himalayas late last year due to unprecedented intelligence sharing with the US military. Guard, angry Beijing; And it appears to have forced the Chinese Communist Party to rethink its approach to land grabs across its borders.

Indian and Chinese troops clashed across the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang sector on December 9, and the clash resulted in “minor injuries to a few on both sides,” the US government said in a statement to its Indian counterparts on Chinese positions and troop strength ahead of the PLA incursion. provided real-time details,” the report said, citing a source familiar with the previously undisclosed US intelligence review of the encounter in Arunachal Pradesh.

“This information included actionable satellite imagery, and was delivered much faster and faster than anything the US had previously shared with the Indian military,” it said.

The clash, which came after hundreds of troops used spiked clubs and Tasers, resulted in no deaths as in previous encounters, but was instead limited to a dozen or so injuries and — most obviously — a Chinese retreat, the report said.

“They waited. This is because the US has given India everything it needs to be fully prepared. It proves a test case of success of how the two armies are now cooperating and sharing intelligence,” an unnamed source was quoted as saying by the daily.

Relations between India and China eased significantly following the deadly clash in the Galwan Valley in June 2020.

India has told China that bilateral relations cannot be normal until there is peace on the border. PTI LKJ TIR NSA AKJ NSA