On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused China of "incredibly hostile behavior", through recent confrontations with India over a disputed sector at the border between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.
"The Chinese have come in an incredibly hostile act," Pompeo said at a US State Department press conference, referring to the clash last month in the Gallowan Valley. "The Indians did their best to respond to that," he said.
Clashes with hands, iron bars and clubs on the China-India border resulted in the deaths of about 20 Indian soldiers, while China has not confirmed any losses.
Frequently, confrontations occur between the two nuclear states across the disputed borders, without resulting in at least deaths in recent decades, but relations between them remain thorny. They fought a short war in 1962 in which China seized lands from India, followed by clashes that caused He was killed in 1967, but the last shooting occurred in 1975.
Pompeo's comments reflect the deep tension between Washington and Beijing, which differ over how to deal with the outbreak of the Corona virus pandemic, the measures China has taken in Hong Kong (the former British colony), and the two-year-old trade dispute between China and the United States.