GUWAHATI (India) • The Indian army has asked its Chinese counterpart if five civilians who went missing from an eastern border state days ago were in their custody, an Indian military spokesman said yesterday.

Relations between the nuclear-armed Asian giants have hit a multi-decade low since clashes at their western Himalayan border in June that killed 20 Indian soldiers.

Both sides have since stepped up monitoring of their largely unsettled 3,488km border.

Late last month, the two countries were involved in a skirmish near Pangong Tso - a glacial lake at an altitude of more than 4,300m - along the Line of Actual Control.

India said its soldiers were able to stop a push by Chinese troops to claim more ground in violation of existing agreements, while Beijing denied that its troops strayed into Indian territory.

The latest incident involves five missing men from the Indian border state of Arunachal Pradesh. This state is also claimed by China, which calls it South Tibet.

The Indian military said it told China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) about the five last Saturday.

"We spoke with them on the hotline and told them that it's suspected that some people have crossed (over) to your side and we will be grateful if you could hand them... back, as per what we do normally," said India's defence forces spokesman Harsh Wardhan Pande.

"There is no earmarked line going through the forest or the mountains, so they keep moving here and there. So they might have gone there. It's a very normal thing."

Earlier in the day, India's Minister of State for Minority Affairs Kiren Rijiju, who is also a lawmaker from Arunachal Pradesh, said the military hotline meant to defuse border tensions was activated over the incident.

"The Indian Army has already sent hotline message to the counterpart PLA establishment at the border point in Arunachal Pradesh. Response is awaited," he said on Twitter.

The Arunachal Times reported last Saturday the men were hunting when they were allegedly snatched. It was not immediately clear when they might have gone missing.

Yesterday, China said it is not aware of the specific case and its circumstances.

"China's position on the eastern section of the China-India border and China's southern Tibet is consistent and clear. We have never recognised the illegally established Arunachal Pradesh on Chinese territory," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian during a regular media briefing in Beijing.

The alleged incident comes amid talks between India's Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Chinese counterpart, General Wei Fenghe, on the sidelines of an international meeting in Moscow last Friday.

Mr Singh said they had frank discussions over the disputed Himalayan border and the strained relations between the world's two most populous countries.

While the pair agreed to ease tensions, they also released rival statements accusing each other of inflaming the showdown.

India and China went to war in 1962 over Arunachal Pradesh, a strategically important border area, with Chinese troops temporarily capturing part of the Himalayan territory.

The dispute remains unresolved. China stakes claim to about 90,000 sq km of the area - nearly all of what constitutes Arunachal Pradesh.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, BLOOMBERG

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