NEW DELHI • India's army chief has said that China is sending troops to the two countries' disputed border in "considerable numbers", prompting a matching deployment by New Delhi in a development he calls a "concern".

Tensions have been high between the neighbours following a deadly border battle in June last year in the strategically important Galwan River valley in India's Ladakh region, near Tibet.

The world's two most populous nations poured tens of thousands of extra troops into the high-altitude region in the Himalayas after the clash.

General Manoj Mukund Naravane said on Saturday that the Chinese troop presence along the 3,500km border had increased in "considerable numbers" and it is a "matter of concern".

Gen Naravane said the Indian military is building up its forces along the border in response.

"We have also inducted advanced weaponry," the Times of India newspaper quoted the army chief as saying.

"We are strong, quite well-poised to meet any eventuality."

India and China have been holding high-level military talks since the June clash and Gen Naravane said another meeting is expected soon.

His comments came days after China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying accused Indian soldiers of illegally crossing the border into Chinese territory, a charge that New Delhi said has "no basis in facts".

Local media, citing unnamed sources, reported last week that nearly 100 Chinese troops had crossed the border into Uttarakhand state for several hours in late August.

India and China, which fought a full-scale border war in 1962, have long accused each other of trying to take territory along their unofficial border known as the Line of Actual Control.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE