India-China standoff could trigger conflict, say experts.

NEW DELHI -- As President Donald Trump offered to mediate the India-China border standoff on Wednesday, not before poking Beijing in the eye on Hong Kong and Taiwan, defence experts in New Delhi expressed their fear that the jostling was serious and could turn into an unintended full-blown military action.

Former Indian envoy to China and Director of the Institute of Chinese Studies, Ashok Kantha, said on Wednesday that the skirmishes between the soldiers in Ladakh and Sikkim regions were far more serious than what had been seen in recent years.

They involved a sizeable number of Chinese soldiers who Mr Kantha said had occupied Indian territory. 'They have resulted in injuries to Indian soldiers and so far the established protocol between the two armies to resolve such situations has not succeeded.'

The Chinese media has blamed Indian troops for transgressing the Line of Actual Control, and accused India of impeding routine patrol by Chinese troops along their Himalayan boundary.

In the absence of an official account, Indian media have offered a clutch of speculative explanations for the standoff. These have included China's alleged need to pressure India against siding with the US-led criticism of it handling of the coronavirus outbreak. Indian media has, however, not commented on an equal likelihood that Indian prime Minister Narendra Modi was in need of shifting the focus from his handling of the pandemic emergency, which has been roundly criticised at home and abroad for its callous approach towards millions of migrant workers. There is also speculation that the Chinese move may be aimed at shoring up the protection for the Karakoram Highway that is critical to CPEC, which India opposes.

Asked by TV anchor Karan Thapar for The Wire news portal if he was...