The Indian Army has deployed a significant number of easily transportable M-777 ultra-light howitzers in mountainous regions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Arunachal Pradesh, military officials said on Thursday.
These war games are said to be in response to India's augmenting its border defences along the Chinese border. The Chinese have been perturbed with India's plan's to reactivate a forward air base at Noyoma in Ladakh.
The Chinese army conducted its first live fire drills involving both army and air force on the Qinghai Tibetan Plateau, The South China Morning Post reported on Tuesday. These war games are said to be in response to India's augmenting its border defences along the Chinese border. The Chinese have been perturbed with India's plan's to reactivate a forward air base at Noyoma in Ladakh.
'The real issue between India and China is that the Chinese have transgressed along the Line of Actual Control at multiple points.'
The announcement on expansion of CPEC was made following a meeting among Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, his Pakistani counterpart Ishaq Dar and Afghanistan's Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Beijing, according to a Pakistani readout.
The Army said Gen Pande witnessed Parvat Prahar exercise besides interacting with officers and troops deployed in the region. The exercise featured a display of operational capabilities by artillery guns and other key weapon systems.
'Will this near-war, India's strongest military response so far, buy India another seven years of deterrence?' asks Shekhar Gupta.
Asim Munir and his brand of short-sighted army officers give no inkling of paying heed, changing course or learning lessons from the past, observes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
The Army Chief was in Ladakh on a two-day visit from June 23 to take stock of the situation.
The ban against the eight Chinese apps -- Alipay, CamScanner, QQ Wallet, SHAREit, Tencent QQ, VMate, WeChat Pay, and WPS Office -- will come into effect in 45 days from Tuesday.
People familiar with the situation in the region said the two sides were engaged in trying to resolve the dispute, but there was no indication of a positive outcome yet as both the armies continued to bolster their positions in disputed areas of Pangong Tso and Galwan Valley and Demchok.
A defence ministry public relation officer from Tezpur on Sunday said the Chinese army has communicated to India that they have found a missing boy from Arunachal Pradesh.
China has honored an army regiment commander who was injured in the Galwan Valley border clash with Indian soldiers in 2020 as an outstanding member of the national advisory body - Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). Qi Fabao, who was made the torchbearer for the Winter Olympics in 2022, was among the 33 individuals honored with the 2024 Outstanding Performance Award for CPPCC Members. The incident, which resulted in the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers, led to a freeze in relations between the two countries for over four years. Ties were restored after a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping in October 2023.
'China is playing the big global game.' 'Their ambitions lie far beyond the Line of Actual Control.'
The Indian side has an edge over their Chinese counterparts in terms of battling the weather as a large number of them have already done duty in the Ladakh sector, including the Siachen glacier or other high altitude positions, sources said.
'We have essentially tried to set out an agenda for the next five years and it, in essence, represents the political commitment to that agenda.'
He also said "Chinese belligerence is evident in its continuing propensity to project power outside its region", in turn presenting a "threat to the rules-based international order".
Two Chinese helicopters entered Indian territory in Uttarakhand on two occasions in April and June after which the Army launched protests with the Chinese Army, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.
Nabam Rebia said the Chinese army had demolished a Buddha statue in Tawang and that constant incursions by Chinese troops had instilled a sense of insecurity in the people of Arunachal Pradesh.
The BCCI on Friday said it will review IPL's sponsorship deals, including the one with Chinese mobile manufacturing company Vivo, in a meeting next week after 20 Indian soldiers were killed during a clash with Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh. The meeting of the IPL Governing Council will review the yearly Rs 440 crore title sponsorship deal with Vivo among others.
The Indian Army has set up two armoured vehicle maintenance and repair facilities near the China border in Nyoma and the DBO Sector in that region at altitudes of over 14,500 feet in the area, which is the world's highest battlefield for tanks and infantry combat vehicles along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh.
'He is intrigued by the intractability of Kashmir issue. With his interest in dealmaking and peacebrokering, he sees it as an exciting challenge to tackle.'
The PLA choppers violated Indian airspace in the Chumar sector on July 11 around 0800 hours and returned after flying for some time there, sources said.
A start-up firm in Noida said soon after the Galwan Valley clash, it was tasked by the Indian security forces to provide them equipment to be able to tackle the Chinese and they have provided them solutions in the form of non-lethal weapons inspired by the traditional Indian weapons like the 'Trishul' of Lord Shiva.
China has delivered a second advanced submarine to Pakistan, part of a larger deal to bolster the South Asian nation's naval capabilities in the Indian Ocean. The move underscores China's growing influence in the region and its strategic partnership with Pakistan.
The commanders will also deliberate on the overall situation in Jammu and Kashmir besides delving into issues having national security implications, they said. However, the main focus will be on the situation in eastern Ladakh where Indian and Chinese troops are locked in an eyeball-to-eyeball face-off in Pangong Tso, Galwan Valley, Demchok and Daulat Beg Oldie, the sources said.
Victory Day marks the end of World War II when the Soviet Army defeated Nazi Germany and captured Berlin.
'We need to be very vigilant as we are passing through some fraught times.'
The talks between the two sides have been going on for the last three months including five Lieutenant General-level talks but have failed to yield any results, so far.
India has emerged as a 'major power' by achieving outstanding results in economic development and social governance and its transformation as a stronger, assertive country has made it a 'new geopolitical factor', according to a commentary by a Chinese scholar in a state-run newspaper in Beijing.
Lieutenant General Upendra Dwivedi, the general officer commanding-in-chief of the Northern Command, said five of the seven friction points in eastern Ladakh, where the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA are locked in a standoff since May 2020, have been resolved and talks are underway for the remaining areas.
Rahul Gandhi pays tribute to his father, former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, on his 79th birth anniversary on the banks of the Pangong Lake in Ladakh, August 20, 2023.
However, the deployment in the frontline areas has remained the same and the troops from both sides remain in an eyeball to eyeball situation at several locations in that sector.
Many of them sustained minor injuries in the clash near Naku La in the Sikkim sector along the Sino-Indo border on Saturday
It is learnt that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has conveyed to top military brass that there was no need for reviewing the implementation of any of the key projects along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand or in Arunachal Pradesh in view of the aggressive behaviour by Chinese troops in several sensitive areas.
Indian and Chinese militaries on Monday moved back their frontline troops to the rear locations from the face-off site of Patrolling Point 15 in the Gogra-Hotsprings area in eastern Ladakh and dismantled temporary infrastructure there as part of a five-day disengagement process.
'One good outcome of Operation Sindoor -- perhaps, its best outcome -- could be that India has resumed meaningful contact directly with Pakistan at the military-to-military level,' observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The main focus will be on the situation in eastern Ladakh where Indian and Chinese troops are locked in an eyeball-to-eyeball face-off in sensitive areas like Pangong Tso, Galwan Valley, Demchok and Daulat Beg Oldie
It marked a "milestone" in India's journey towards technological self-reliance in military operations, the ministry said on Operation Sindoor.
Chinese army personnel on Monday joined their Indian counterparts in celebrating the country's Independence Day at Chushul in Leh area, a defence spokesman said in Srinagar.\n\n
