Beijing says it took "countermeasures" after Indian troops fired aerial shots during a confrontation with Chinese personnel on the border of disputed Kashmir.

A view of Pangong Tso lake in Ladakh region July 27, 2019.
A view of Pangong Tso lake in Ladakh region July 27, 2019.
(Reuters)
India and China are blaming each other for violating a bilateral agreement at the tense Ladakh border.
India on Monday blamed Chinese troops for firing shots in the air to intimidate Indian troops during a confrontation.
India said its troops exercised restraint and did not cross the border.
China had earlier accused Indian troops of violating a bilateral agreement by firing warning shots in the air.
The nuclear-armed rivals have been engaged in a tense standoff in the cold-desert Ladakh region since May, and their defence ministers met on Friday in Moscow in the first high-level direct contact between the sides since the standoff began.
China’s western military command said the incursion occurred on Monday along the southern coast of Pangong Lake in the area known in Chinese as Shenpaoshan. 
On the Indian side, the area is known as Chushul, where the two countries local military commanders have held several rounds of talks to defuse the tense standoff.
After shots were fired, Chinese forces took “necessary measures to stabilise and control the situation,” the command said, in the statement citing spokesman Zhang Shuili. It demanded the Indian forces withdraw and investigate the move to open fire. READ MORE: Special Frontier Force: India’s ‘secret Tibetan’ guerilla squad

No casualties There was no word of casualties on either side.
Late last month, India said its soldiers thwarted the Chinese military’s moves “to change the status quo” in violation of a consensus reached in past efforts to settle the standoff. In turn, China also accused Indian troops of crossing established lines of control.
The activity last month and on Monday were alleged to have occurred in Chushul area on the southern bank of Pangong Lake, a glacial lake divided by the de facto frontier and where the India-China face-off began on its northern flank in early May.
The standoff escalated to a medieval, nighttime clash June 15 that was the deadliest conflict in 45 years between the nuclear-armed rivals. According to Indian officials, Chinese troops atop a ridge at the mouth of the narrow Galwan Valley threw stones, punched and pushed Indian soldiers down the ridge at around 4,500 meters (15,000 feet). India said 20 of its soldiers were killed, including a colonel. China did not report any casualties.
The disputed and undemarcated 3,500-kilometres (2,175-mile) border between India and China, referred to as the Line of Actual Control, stretches from the Ladakh region in the north to the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. According to China, the frontier is about 2,000 kilometres (1240-mile) and claims entire Arunachal Pradesh as its territory. READ MORE: India uses arrival of French Rafale jets to warn China

The nuclear-armed Asia giants fought a border war in 1962 that also spilled into Ladakh and ended in an uneasy truce. The two countries have been trying to settle their border dispute since the early 1990s, without success.
India unilaterally declared Ladakh a federal territory and separated it from disputed Kashmir in August 2019, ending its semi-autonomous status. The move further strained the relationship between New Delhi and Beijing, which raised the issue at international forums including the U.N. Security Council.
In a symbolic move amid soaring tensions, India has banned scores of Chinese-owned apps, including TikTok, citing privacy concerns that it said pose a threat to India’s sovereignty and security. READ MORE: Chinese, Indian defence ministers meet in Russia amid border tensions Number of skirmishes  Both sides have sent tens of thousands of troops to the disputed Himalayan border, which sits at an altitude of more than 13,500 feet.
Their troops have had a number of showdowns since a clash in the Ladakh region on June 15 in which 20 Indian troops died. China has also acknowledged suffering casualties but not given figures.
The relationship between the two nuclear-armed neighbours has deteriorated since then. Failed talks Defence ministers from both countries talked in Moscow on the sidelines of an international meeting last week – with both sides later releasing rival statements accusing each other of inflaming the showdown.
And earlier this week an Indian minister said Delhi had alerted China to allegations five men had been abducted by the PLA close to the disputed border. READ MORE: China-India clashes show contrasting interests as tensions easeSource: trtworld.com