With Modi in China, Brahma Chellaney flags media bias on Galwan clashes, warns of clash risk

Geopolitical expert Brahma Chellaney has cautioned against portraying the June 2020 Galwan Valley clashes as the starting point of the Sino-Indian rupture, arguing that such framing parrots Beijing’s narrative while concealing the real trigger — China’s stealthy land grabs in Ladakh two months earlier.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Chellaney wrote, “Portraying the June 2020 Galwan Valley clashes as the starting point of the Sino-Indian rupture is not just misleading — it parrots Beijing’s narrative, which conceals the real cause: China’s stealthy land grabs of April 2020 in Ladakh. Yet, with Modi in China, much of the Indian media is doing precisely that.”

He warned that the Chinese encroachments sparked a grinding military standoff that continues to fester more than five years later. “Disengagement at key flashpoints has not been followed by de-escalation or de-induction of forces. Tens of thousands of Chinese troops, backed by heavy weaponry, remain entrenched along the frontier. India has had to mirror that buildup at enormous cost, with no prospect of China restoring the status quo ante. The risk of renewed clashes cannot be discounted, even as Beijing pretends that ‘normalcy’ has returned,” he added.

Earlier, Chellaney had cautioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi against being nudged into China’s embrace by the actions of US President Donald Trump. In a Project Syndicate opinion piece, he noted that Modi’s desire for a diplomatic thaw with Beijing is understandable given the sharp deterioration in US-India ties, which have sunk to their lowest point this century.

Trump’s decision to impose 50% tariffs on imports from India, Chellaney observed, has further complicated the partnership once seen as central to a “free and open Indo-Pacific.” Ironically, he noted, while the US has long viewed India as a strategic counterweight to China, it is India — not China — that is now being punished through punitive trade measures.

He also flagged concerns over Trump’s efforts to woo Russian President Vladimir Putin in a bid to end the Ukraine war and weaken Moscow’s ties with Beijing. Drawing a parallel, Chellaney argued that Washington risks repeating the same mistake it made with Russia — pushing a key player toward China by isolating it diplomatically.