India objects to China’s construction of a second bridge over the disputed Pangong Lake, an area India says has been under China’s “illegal occupation” since the 1960s, Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagshi said. never agreed to such illegal occupation of our lands, nor to China’s unfounded accusations or such construction activities.”

There was no immediate comment from China, and the move is expected to impact efforts by the two countries’ militaries, which have recently been discussing moves to disengage forces in areas along the disputed border. Both countries deployed tens of thousands of soldiers, supported by artillery, tanks and warplanes, along the de facto border, called the Line of Actual Control.

The Line of Actual Control separates territories controlled by both China and India from Ladakh in the west to the state of Arunachal Pradesh in the east of India, which is fully claimed by China. India and China fought a cross-border war in 1962.