Drone crash shows India still behaving recklessly

China's military voiced strong indignation on Thursday to the recent crash of an Indian unmanned aerial vehicle on the Chinese side of the border where there was a standoff between Chinese and Indian troops in the summer that lasted for more than two months. No further details have been given about the UAV or when it crashed, but as well as operating domestically developed drones, India agreed to buy state-of-the-art combat drones from Israel in the summer, having already deployed Israeli surveillance drones along the border.

Although India claims it was an accident and control of the drone was lost when it was conducting a regular training mission, its latest move constitutes an infringement on China's territory and is not conducive to maintaining peace and tranquility in the border area.

Since the Indian side withdrew its troops and equipment from Donglang in August, there have been no major skirmishes along the border area or in bilateral ties. However, India appears willing to squander the two sides' efforts to maintain good neighborly ties, as it seems it still wants to test China's bottom line.