NEW DELHI, May 6 (UPI) -- Chinese and Indian soldiers have returned to their posts after a weeks-long dispute over an icy Himalayan plateau along their unmarked border, officials said.
Chinese soldiers are said to have pitched tents far past what is known as the Line of Actual Control -- the supposed border disputed by both sides -- and remained there for 20 days. Indian troops had advanced to within shouting distance of the encampment before the Chinese soldiers backed down Monday and returned to their original post.
Voice of America said the area is near a strategically important air field for the Indian military. Citizens took to the streets in several Indian cities, calling on the government to remove the Chinese soldiers by force if necessary.
"It was a move by the Chinese to test Indian resolve," said Bharat Karnad, a strategic affairs analyst at New Delhi's independent Center for Policy Research. "The public reaction to it was so fulsome that I think it may have persuaded Beijing to put on a more conciliatory face, and that's what has happened."
"China and India have reached an agreement on resolving the incident in the western section of the border. The frontier forces of the two countries have terminated the standoff at the Tiannan River Valley area," Chinese Foreign Ministry representative Hua Chunying said in a statement published by the state-run Xinhua News Agency Monday.
The Hindustan Times noted Chinese officials declined to say the soldiers had retreated -- because it would be a tacit admission they had advanced over the border in the first place.
The border dispute dates back to a war the two countries fought in 1962, with both nations claiming ownership of some of the other's land.
