India-China tensions: Trump offers to 'mediate' over Ladakh standoff

US President Donald Trump on May 27 said that he has informed both India and China that the US is "ready, willing and able" to mediate or "arbitrate" what he called a "raging border dispute" amid the continuing standoff between the military of the two neighbours at the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
The nearly 3,500 km-long LAC is the de-facto border between India and China.

Also Read | Chinese troops come inside Indian territory in eastern Ladakh

Several areas along the LAC in Ladakh and North Sikkim have witnessed major military build-up by both the Indian and Chinese armies recently, in a clear signal of escalating tension and hardening of respective positions by the two sides even two weeks after they were engaged in two separate face-offs.

India has said the Chinese military was hindering normal patrolling by its troops along the LAC in Ladakh and Sikkim and strongly refuted Beijing's contention that the escalating tension between the two armies was triggered by trespassing of Indian forces across the Chinese side.

Also Read | India, China military commanders meet along LAC amid escalating border tension