Arunachal ‘Chinese Intrusion’ Videos: What Is Known and What Is Not

Over the weekend of 25 and 26 October, videos claiming to show Chinese vehicles and troops pushing into Arunachal Pradesh spread across X, some shared by a Congress spokesperson. The Indian Army’s fact-check account says none of them shows what it claims: one is Chinese trade trucks at Nathu La in Sikkim, one is a mock drill in Bengaluru, and a clip of a senior general was doctored. What remains officially confirmed is narrower and older: the ITBP chief said on 22 October that face-offs with Chinese troops in Arunachal were continuing, and the government has still not said where.

What the Viral Posts Claimed

The most shared clip shows trucks rolling along a mountain road. Posts said Chinese vehicles had entered India without permission and that mainstream media was hiding it. Ritu Choudhary, an AICC communication coordinator from Bihar whose X handle spells her name Choudhry, posted it with the line “Godi media won’t show this”, ThePrint reported. She also shared a clip in which Lt Gen Girish Kalia, who commands the Army’s Spear Corps, appears to say China has captured the Asaphila, Longju and Taksing circles, and that troops were being sent against “Gen Z” instead.

Other posts showed injured soldiers, soldiers being beaten, and Chinese troops apparently searching Indian personnel. Separately, Arunachal Pradesh Congress president Bosiram Siram alleged that Chinese troops had advanced 40 to 50 km into Upper Subansiri district and sought a probe, Oneindia reported.

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What the Army Says the Videos Show

False, says the Army (26 October): the trucks are JAC-branded Chinese commercial vehicles at Nathu La, a designated India-China border trade point in Sikkim, where trade runs under bilateral agreements and regulated procedures. The Army said 12 handles posted the same content between 8:26 am and 12:56 pm that day and called it “coordinated inauthentic behaviour”. Ms Choudhary’s handle was one of the 12. BOOM traced the clip to an Instagram reel posted on 9 September and captioned Nathula.

False, says the Army (25 October): the Kalia clip was digitally altered. The original footage is from a press briefing in Kupwara, Jammu and Kashmir, on 27 October 2023, about infiltration across the Line of Control, when he commanded the 28 Infantry Division. He “made no such statements”, the Army said. BOOM found a voice-detection tool scored the audio as a likely deepfake.

False, says the Army: the clip of Chinese soldiers searching Indian personnel is from a counter-terror mock drill in Bengaluru in May 2026, IANS reported. Footage of injured men came from Operation Karegutta, an anti-Maoist operation in Chhattisgarh, and a clip billed as a face-off in Taksing was a Kazakh special forces exercise, the Daily Jagran reported. BOOM separately found a beating clip dating to 2024, a club fight near Tawang from September 2021, and AI audio put in the mouth of the retired Lt Gen Manoj Kumar.

What Is Confirmed, and What Is Not

Confirmed: ITBP Director General Shatrujeet Kapur told troops in Alwar on 22 October that face-offs with Chinese troops at several places in Arunachal “still continue”. The next day, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the situation is disturbed “from time to time” when Chinese forces depart from established patrolling patterns. IPB’s account of those two statements sets out what each said.

Not confirmed: that China has captured any circle, or advanced 40 to 50 km. No official source has said Indian territory was lost. Government sources quoted by The Hindu in August put PLA tents 6 to 7 km inside the LAC as India sees it near the Maja post, a figure no official has confirmed on record.

Not explained: where the face-offs are, how many there are, and whether Indian patrols can still reach every point they did before. The MEA sent those questions to the Defence Ministry on 23 October. No Defence Ministry statement had been reported by 28 October, and the video of Kapur’s speech was removed from the ITBP’s channels without a reason being given. The Army has been quick to say what the videos do not show; it has not given its own account of the face-offs Kapur described.

The Political Fight Over the Clips

Union minister Kiren Rijiju called the posts treacherous and demanded an apology from the Congress for spreading what he called a fake AI video. BJP leader Nalin Kohli said on 27 October that Congress leaders had shared the videos without checking them. The Indian Youth Congress asked why Rijiju had himself posted the video if he thought it fake. No senior Congress leader had commented on the Army’s findings when ThePrint reported on 27 October, and Ms Choudhary’s posts were still up.

The Army tagged the IT ministry in its Nathu La post, but neither has said whether any action will follow against the 12 handles. Kapur retires on 31 October. Unrest over a separate Arunachal issue, the Siang dam protests, continues in Pasighat.

Source: Indian Army Fact Check posts on X, 25 and 26 October 2026, as reported by The Week. Also based on reporting by ThePrint, BOOM, BOOM (Kalia clip), IANS / Punjab Kesari, Oneindia and Daily Jagran.

Image: Nathu La pass, Sikkim (file photo) / Wikimedia Commons.