China's military on Thursday asked the Indian Army not to take any "unilateral actions" affecting the stability of the border areas, days after the Indian side removed a Chinese-built hut in the Ladakh sector.
Col Babu was awarded the gallantry medal for resisting the Chinese Army attack while establishing an observation post in the face of the enemy in the Galwan valley in the Ladakh sector during Operation Snow Leopard.
Sources said India will not lower its guard and will maintain the current state of very high-level of combat readiness in eastern Ladakh till there are visible changes in the ground situation.
'Both sides should, therefore, focus on easing tensions in the friction areas by refraining from any actions that may lead to an escalation in the situation'
'By causing military humiliation of India it intends to send a signal to other Asian countries to toe the Chinese line,' argues Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
A US RC-135S reconnaissance aircraft on Wednesday flew near the ongoing Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) drills in the South China Sea, a day after another US spy plane, a U-2, trespassed into another PLA exercise restricted zone, state-run Global Times reported.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday said the People's Liberation Army has the confidence and capability to defeat all invading enemies as he inspected a massive military parade at the country's largest military base to mark the 90th founding anniversary of the 2.3-million strong army.
'Clarifying that modernisation of national defence and armed forces should be completed by 2035, Xi Jinping asserted the goal is to make the People's Liberation Army a "world class force" that "can fight and win" by 2050,' points out former RAW officer Jayadeva Ranade.
This was the first round of talks for Wang after he succeeded State Councillor Yang Jiechi earlier this year.
In the last couple of weeks, the Chinese forces have brought in heavy air superiority aircraft like the Sukhoi-30 and its strategic bombers to the rear locations which have been detected flying near the Indian territory maintaining the 10 km plus distance from the boundary.
Initial information from a reliable police source said that the two women killed in the blast were Chinese nationals and may have been the target of the blast.
'This is the first time that active PLA army personnel would be reduced to below one million,' PLA Daily said.
China is engaged in hotly contested territorial disputes in the South and East China Seas. Beijing has also made substantial progress in militarising its man-made islands in the past few years, which it says it has the right to defend.
Over the last few weeks, bipartisan support for India against China has been increasing.
About 30 airports have been either built or under construction in Tibet and Xinjiang provinces which will boost China's civil and military infrastructure in the remote regions bordering India, the country's official media reported.
China urged the US to immediately address its wrongdoings, take practical measures to undo the adverse effects caused by Pelosi's visit.
He said that US intelligence shows that Chinese President Xi Jinping has instructed his nation's military to 'be ready by 2027' to invade Taiwan.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang displayed a photograph of Indian 'incursion' into Donglong area.
'Although Hong Kong weathered many a storm and displayed a remarkable resilience to bounce back, the developments in the territory have raised question marks with regard to its future stability and prosperity.' A revealing excerpt from Rup Narayan Das's Hong Kong Conundrum: Pangs of Transition.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is all set for an unprecedented third five-year term as he was 'elected' to the powerful Central Committee of the ruling Communist Party on Saturday while several top leaders including Premier Li Keqiang have been left out in the major shake-up at the top.
A village built by China along the Line of Actual Control in the Arunachal Pradesh sector and mentioned in a recent Pentagon report, is in territory controlled by that country, sources in the security establishment in New Delhi said on Tuesday.
India on Thursday announced that its charge d'affaires in the Beijing embassy will not attend the opening or closing ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics in the Chinese capital over China honouring a military commander involved in the Galwan Valley clashes as its torchbearer for the mega sporting event.
Arif will be competing in Slalom and Giant Slalom events during the Games to be held from February 4 to 20.
Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on Thursday directed that the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and the ships in her strike group will remain on station in the general area to monitor the situation.
'China wants to change the status quo of India's Northern Border and proves that it can do whatever it wants in what it perceives as its own territory,' states Claude Arpi.
'The Fire and Fury Corps is the only formation of the Indian Army and also in the world to have actually deployed mechanised forces in such harsh terrain. The maintenance of the tanks, infantry combat vehicles and heavy guns is a challenge in this terrain. To ensure crew and equipment readiness, adequate arrangements are in place for both man and machine'
Chinese President Xi Jinping has asked the People's Liberation Army to be combat ready to win a "regional war" and make sure that all decisions from the central leadership are strictly followed.
It is learnt that the face-off took place after a Chinese patrol tried to enter Indian territory and the troops of China's People's Liberation Army were forced back.
'We should have seen these signals and reacted earlier.' 'We miss out on a certain strategic advantage by arriving late on the scene.'
The first priority for the new Tibetan administration in Dharamsala should be to look at Tibetan recruitment in the PLA, suggests Claude Arpi.
Even after the one month of the incident, China has still not disclosed how many of its soldiers were killed in the incident.
'This reluctance to respond forcefully to Chinese PLA provocations and outright aggression has as much to do with Prime Minister Modi personally, as with the institutional mindset of the MEA or even the Indian Army.' 'They are scarred by the 1962 War and are still cowed by China.'
Among others, China is developing the strategically located Gwadar port in Balochistan, which is aimed towards having a military presence, says a Pentagon report
Qin, who recently succeeded Wang Yi, had a phone call at the request of Bilawal on January 9, a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement in Beijing said on Tuesday.
'While China has been hiking its defence spending, India has done precious little in implementing the Manmohan Singh government's decision of raising a 90,000-strong China-centric Mountain Strike Corps,' says Rajeev Sharma.
'Everytime the Chinese raised the issue of our patrol crossing the line, I told them let's not fight over a line that does not exist yet.' 'Commanders resolved such situations sitting across the table, sometimes we posed veiled threats about creating problems elsewhere along the 800 km frontier as a tit-for-tat.'
'Chinese troops are not geared to fight Indian troops who are battle hardened and acclimatised and are far more hardy.'
'It is flabbergasting to think that this heavenly region has, for decades, been coveted by India's aggressive neighbours,' says Claude Arpi after a recent visit to Ladakh. 'Wanting to use the newly created infrastructure to defend the borders after the clash of 2020 with China and the resulting standoffs, the home ministry is keen to boost border tourism to show that these areas are controlled by India.'
The Tibetan nation still lives under the yoke of the Chinese Communist Party, and Beijing today has a guilty conscience; this creates a great uneasiness for Xi Jinping and his colleagues observes Claude Arpi.
'They have done in Eastern Ladakh what we did in Dokalam in 2017.'
