Chinese tanks pictured pulling back from contested border region, not 'invading Indian territory'

Screenshot of the false X post, captured on September 9, 2024

Nuclear-armed rivals China and India have long competed for strategic influence across South Asia (archived link).

The world's two most populous nations fought a border war in 1962 and have periodically accused each other of violating their 3,500-kilometre (2,200-mile) frontier, large parts of which have never been properly agreed. That includes areas in India's Ladakh region, just opposite Tibet.

The same photo was shared in posts in September 2024 on X here and here, and Facebook here, alongside claims it showed Chinese tanks entering Indian territory.

But there have been no official reports as of September 9, 2024 of Chinese tanks entering Indian territory.

'Military disengagement'

The two sides have clashed along their shared border in the past, including June 2020, when at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers were killed (archived links here and here).

Both countries sent tens of thousands of extra troops to the border after the brutal, high-altitude border battle in the Galwan Valley -- one of the deadliest clashes between the neighbours in recent decades.

The photo falsely shared online was in fact released by the Indian Ministry of Defence in February 2021, after New Delhi and Beijing reached an agreement to pull back from part of their contested Himalayan border to ease tensions.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told parliament at the time the agreement with Beijing would "substantially restore the situation to that existing prior to commencement of the stand-off", adding "we have not conceded anything".

Separately, China's defence ministry spokesman, Wu Qian, said frontline troops from both sides "began to disengage in a synchronised and planned way on February 10".

The photo is available in AFP's archives, where it is captioned: "This undated handout photograph released by the Indian Army on February 16, 2021 shows People Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers and tanks during military disengagement along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) at the India-China border in Ladakh."

A reverse image search on Google also led to the same photo used in a news article by Indian media outlet The Print published on February 21, 2021 (archived link).

The photo is captioned, "Chinese PLA troops march back from the Pangong Tso area in eastern Ladakh | Photo: Indian Army | Representational image".

Below is a screenshot comparison between the photo used in the false post (left) and the same photo from AFP's archive (right):