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A6 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 26 January 2021
India, China soldiers brawl again along disputed frontier

By AIJAZ HUSSAIN and from overplaying or exag- who spoke on condition of silence. where Sikkim, the site of the
SHEIKH SAALIQ gerating” the incident. anonymity because of the Modi “hasn’t said the word latest brawl, is sandwiched.
Associated Press Chinese Foreign Ministry sensitivity of the issue and in ‘China’ for months,” Gan- The LAC divides areas of
SRINAGAR, India (AP) — In- spokesperson Zhao Lijian keeping with government dhi said in a tweet Monday. physical control rather than
dian and Chinese soldiers said he did not have infor- regulations, said soldiers “Maybe he can start by territorial claims. Despite
brawled last week along mation to provide on the on both sides were carry- saying the word ‘China.’” more than three dozen
the countries’ disputed incident but urged India ing firearms but did not use India and China have rounds of talks over the
border, Indian officials said “not to take any unilateral them. been locked in a tense years and multiple meet-
Monday, as a monthslong action that may further The two officials said over a military standoff since May ings between Modi and
standoff between the nu- complicate or exacerbate dozen Indian soldiers and high in the Karakoram Chinese President Xi Jin-
clear-armed rivals contin- the border tension.” at least eight Chinese sol- mountains, with troops set- ping, they are nowhere
ued. Since a deadly clash last diers received minor inju- tling in for the harsh winter. near settling the dispute.
The clash in the Naku La year, soldiers from the two ries. Both sides have mobilized The standoff began last
area of Sikkim came four sides have brawled occa- There was no independent tens of thousands of sol- May with a fierce brawl,
days before the countries sionally and fired shots for confirmation of the inci- diers, artillery and fighter and exploded into hand-
held a ninth round of talks the first time in decades, dent. aircraft along the fiercely to-hand combat with
on Sunday on ending ten- breaking a longstanding Both sides rushed more sol- contested border known clubs, stones and fists on
sions in another disputed agreement not to use fire- diers to the area in an “ag- as the Line of Actual Con- June 15 that left 20 Indian
border area in the remote arms during border con- gressive deployment” that trol, or LAC, that separates soldiers dead. China is be-
Ladakh region. frontations. swelled the number of per- Chinese and Indian-held lieved to also have had ca-
The Indian army described Two Indian security officials sonnel to hundreds, the of- territories from Ladakh in sualties, but has not given
the clash at Naku La as “a said at least 18 Chinese ficials said. the west to India’s eastern any details.
minor face off” and said soldiers tried to cross into The leader of India’s main state of Arunachal Pradesh, Indian and Chinese army
it “was resolved by local Indian-claimed territory at opposition Congress party, which China claims in its commanders met for the
commanders as per estab- Naku La last Wednesday Rahul Gandhi, accused entirety. ninth round of talks after a
lished protocols.” night and were blocked China of “expanding its oc- The frontier is broken in gap of 2 1/2 months in La-
An army statement did not by Indian soldiers, lead- cupation into Indian terri- parts where the Himala- dakh on Sunday but neither
provide any other details, ing to clashes with sticks tory” and questioned Prime yan nations of Nepal and side released any details of
but asked media “to refrain and stones. The officials, Minister Narendra Modi’s Bhutan border China, and the outcome.q

9 workers found dead in China gold mine explosions

Search efforts will continue
for the remaining miner un-
til he is found, said Chen
Fei, the mayor of Yantai
city, where the mine is lo-
cated.
“Until this worker is found,
we will not give up,” he said
at a news conference.
Chen and other officials in-
volved in the rescue effort
held a moment of silence
for the victims, bowing their
heads.
“Our hearts are deeply
grieved. We express our
profound condolences,
and we express deep sym-
pathies to the families of
the victim,” he said.
Authorities have detained
mine managers for delay-
ing reporting the accident.
Such protracted and ex-
pensive rescue efforts are
relatively new in China’s
mining industry, which used
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, rescuers carry a miner who was trapped in a mine to an ambulance in Qixia City to average 5,000 deaths
in east China's Shandong Province, Sunday, Jan. 24, 2021.
Associated Press per year.
Increased supervision has
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese res- two weeks at the mine in a shaft, disabling eleva- porters that the nine work- improved safety, although
cuers have found the bod- Shandong province. One tors and trapping work- ers recovered Monday demand for coal and pre-
ies of nine workers killed in person was still missing. ers underground. Rescu- died more than 400 meters cious metals continues to
explosions at a gold mine, The cause of the accident ers drilled parallel shafts to (1,320 feet) below ground. prompt corner-cutting. A
raising the death toll to 10, at the mine, which was un- send down food and nutri- He said there had been new crackdown was or-
officials said Monday. der construction, is under ents and eventually bring two explosions about an dered after two accidents
Eleven others were rescued investigation. The explo- up the survivors on Sunday. hour and a half apart, with in mountainous southwest-
a day earlier after being sions on Jan. 10 released 70 Chen Yumin, director of the second explosion caus- ern Chongqing last year
trapped underground for tons of debris that blocked the rescue group, told re- ing more damage. killed 39 miners.q