India-China face-off live updates: India, China have come to blows and we are trying to help them out, says Trump

Many feel the archipelago, nearly 700 nautical miles from the mainland, remains at risk from People’s Liberation Army Navy. The Chinese navy has been active in the region, surveillance has established. While most Chinese vessels, including submarines, have lurked close to India’s territorial waters, some had to be driven away.

Just when India-China ties suffered a new low following the recent clashes at Galwan Valley in Ladakh, Beijing seems to be aggressively wooing Bangladesh, a strong ally of India in the neighbourhood, with a host of sops. Beijing has reached out to Dhaka by offering to waive off 97% tariff on 5,161 items that Bangladesh trades with China. Dhaka had asked for the waiver from China for being a “less developed country”, and Beijing responded favourably on July 16, ironically a day after the Ladakh clash.

India has moved its fighter jets to forward airbases facing China, even as additional warships have now been deployed in the extended Bay of Bengal region, in a clear signal to Beijing that New Delhi is prepared for escalation in the ongoing troop confrontation on the unresolved border.

Ten Indian soldiers, including two majors and two captains, who were held captive by the People’s Liberation Army since the bloody clash Monday night were released on Thursday evening after three days of hectic negotiations between Leh-based 3 Infantry Division commander Major General Abhijit Bapat and his PLA counterpart near “patrolling point-14 (PP-14)” in the Galwan Valley region.