It has been argued that India should have held back on disengagement from the Kailash Range, using that as a trump card to force Chinese concessions in areas such as Depsang, where they hold the advantage.
'Chinese soldiers don't have much experience of fighting in these kinds of areas and operating in this kind of terrain'
India and China are likely to hold another round of diplomatic talks this week on eastern Ladakh with a focus on moving forward in disengagement of troops in the remaining friction points, people familiar with the development said on Tuesday.
The army said senior commanders of the Indian and Chinese military reviewed the progress on implementation of the first phase of disengagement and discussed further steps to ensure complete withdrawal of troops in the region.
Minister of State for Home Mullappally Ramachandran said there were 228 cases of transgression of the Indo-China border by the People's Liberation Army in 2010, 213 cases in 2011, and 64 cases till April 2012
Both countries have reached a mutual agreement for disengagement of troops from the most contentious area of North and South Pangong Lake.
Amid demands for snapping trade ties with China for its transgressions on the border, former Niti Aayog vice chairman Arvind Panagariya has opined that cutting trade with Beijing at this juncture would amount to sacrificing India's potential economic growth. Instead, Panagariya suggested that India should try to enter into free trade agreements (FTA) with countries such as the UK and the European Union to expand its trade. "Engaging China in a trade war at this juncture will mean sacrificing a considerable part of our potential growth... purely on economic grounds, it will be unwise to take any action in response to it (transgressions on the border)," the eminent economist told PTI.
Former Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya has opined that cutting trade with Beijing at this juncture would amount to sacrificing India's potential economic growth.
Top commanders of the Army on Thursday carried out a comprehensive review of India's overall security challenges including in eastern Ladakh as well as other sensitive areas along the Line of Actual Control with China on the first day of a two-day conference, people familiar with the development said.
India and Pakistan have agreed to strictly observe all agreements on ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) and other sectors, according to a joint statement on Thursday.
The officials said the focus of the talks was on 'full and enduring restoration of peace and tranquillity' along the border and also better coordination to ensure avoidance of such incidents in future.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is set to hold separate bilateral talks with his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang and Russia's Sergey Lavrov at a beach resort in Goa on Thursday on the sidelines of a conclave of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) amid rapidly evolving regional security situation.
Claiming that its troops had 'never crossed' the Line of Actual Control with India, China on Tuesday said it always respected bilateral agreements on maintaining peace and tranquillity in border areas. "China's border personnel have been respecting the two agreements made between the two countries to maintain peace and tranquillity in border areas and have never crossed the LAC," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a media briefing in Beijing.
India and China on Friday agreed to hold the next round of military talks at an early date to achieve the objective of complete disengagement in remaining friction points in eastern Ladakh amid fresh sparring between the two sides on the prolonged Line of Actual Control (LAC) standoff.
The talks took place in a beach resort in Benaulim on the sidelines of a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
Indian and Chinese troops had come face to face in Chumar area of Ladakh in July when the latter transgressed into Indian territory along the Line of Actual Control. Army sources said after the two sides came face to face in Chumar -- which is northeast of Leh in Jammu and Kashmir -- they both showed banners as per the agreed drills and returned to their respective positions peacefully.
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury aid that India must tackle Chinese aggression using all necessary means.
The incident had taken place at a time when the Indian Foreign Minister, S Jaishankar, was in Moscow for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting, where he met his Chinese counterpart to address the border issues.
'When we want to, we will be able to breach it, go across and strike when we need. This was the message we wanted to convey and we did'
The marathon fourth round of Lt Gen-level talks also focussed on steps for pulling back large number of troops and weapons from rear bases along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh.
"We hope the Indian side will move towards China and through concrete actions implement the consensus and continue the close communication through military and diplomatic channels to jointly push for the de-escalation on the border region," Zhao said.
With the two armies again in a face-off at multiple points, there is apprehension of renewed clashes.
He said that the government of India has never accepted this illegal occupation.
'...and then get scaled down somewhat.' 'It will be difficult for any side to occupy meaningful territories, maybe just a bit here and there, and the destruction may vary on either side.'
Indian Army officers are convinced China is maintaining the pretence of dialogue and negotiations in order to create the opportunity to occupy more Indian territory. Senior Indian planners apprehend this might be a Chinese ploy to divert attention from Depsang, in Northern Ladakh, which might be China's actual target.
According to estimates, both India and China have deployed more than 50,000 troops in the Eastern Ladakh sector opposite each other despite the limited disengagement in the Pangong lake sector by both sides earlier this year.
Rezang La is the site of an epic battle where Indian troops bravely fought the Chinese soldiers in 1962.
India will establish a joint mechanism with China in the next few months to resolve border issues while taking steps to modernise its military infrastructure in the face of Beijing "aggressively" shoring up its defence set up along the Line of Actual Control, Defence Minister A K Antony said on Tuesday.
The paper suggests the strategy needs to be area-specific eg, border tourism can be promoted aggressively in the Turtuk or Siachen sector, and Daulat Beg Oldi or Depsang plains.
Military experts said the aim of constructing the bridge in the Khurnak area could be to ensure that the Chinese People's Liberation Army is able to quickly mobilise its troops in the region.
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.
After remaining peaceful for most of the year, Chinese troops entered Indian territory in the fag end of 2010 along the Line of Actual Control in south-eastern Ladakh region and threatened a contractor and his team to halt work on constructing a 'passenger shed'.
"Government is aware that China is developing infrastructure in border regions opposite India in the Tibet and Xinjiang autonomous regions," Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur told Rajya Sabha.
It is on the exact spot where the Guru is said to have created 108 waterfalls, that the Yangtse clash took place between the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA on the night of December 9, 2022. As it had done in Ladakh in May 2020, the PLA tried to change the unmarked LAC in the Yangtse sector in Arunachal Pradesh. It was the most serious border incident since the Galwan Valley clash in June 2020, notes Claude Arpi.
The Army has also further bolstered overall surveillance mechanisms in all areas along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh after foiling China's fresh attempt to occupy an area on the southern bank of Pangong lake, they said.
India's reaction came in response to Beijing announcing Chinese names for 15 more places in Arunachal Pradesh which the neighbouring country claims as South Tibet.
RediffGURUS Ashwini Dasgupta, Anu Krishna, Dr Karthiyayini Mahadevan and Jinal Mehta answer queries from Rediff readers.
Chinese intrusions have been noticed in the past "two years" along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, Rajya Sabha was informed on Wednesday.
The defence minister will review the security situation along the Line of Control in the Valley and Line of Actual Control in the Ladakh region.
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