India-China border conflict: Why world should worry about the worsening border conflict, expert says

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Political figures, media commentators and tens of thousands of protesters in India are calling for blood after a number of the country’s soldiers were killed in a scuffle with Chinese troops.

The significant escalation in the weeks-long standoff at a stretch of disputed border this week is the latest sign that tensions are fraying, and show no immediate signs of easing.

Now, an expert has warned that India’s leader is being backed into a corner with only two options – one of which should worry the rest of the world.

New Delhi and Beijing have been engaged in a war of words for weeks over the contested stretch, with both sides deploying troops and machinery to the Aksai Chin area in the Galway Valley.

Efforts to de-escalate have failed and a bloody brawl late on Monday night – fought not with guns, but nail-covered bamboo sticks, stones and fists – left 20 Indian soldiers dead.

Satellite images taken on June 16, obtained from Planet Labs Inc, show a further build-up of structures, trucks, troops and other equipment in the area where the violence broke out.

RELATED: China and India trade blame over border clash

This satellite image taken on June 16 shows Galwan Valley, which lies between China's Tibet and India's Ladakh. Picture: Planet LabsSource:AFP

The build-up of activity is evident in the image. Picture: Planet LabsSource:AFP

It’s hardly the first time China and India have had stoushes over the disputed stretch of border, with various tense stand-offs in recent years.

But soldiers have not died in decades, explains Ian Hall, deputy director of the Griffith Asia Institute at Griffith University.

“Such confrontations are usually defused by talks between commanders on the ground, leading to choreographed disengagements,” Professor Hall wrote in an article for The Conversation.

“In this case, it appears those processes have failed, and at a moment when relations between China and India – both nuclear armed states – are already tense.”

And neither side looks willing to back down.