India on Thursday said that ensuring a comprehensive disengagement of troops in all the friction areas in eastern Ladakh is the 'immediate task', remarks that came ahead of another round of military talks with China on the border standoff.
This is also the base of the ITBP's Battalion No. 1, tasked with guarding the Line of Actual Control with China that runs along the state.
In the review meeting, Singh told the top military brass to continue to deal with the situation in eastern Ladakh and other areas with "firmness".
The talks came a day after the two armies began a limited disengagement in a few areas in Galwan Valley and Hot Spring in a demonstration of their intent to end the row peacefully.
Amidst reports of Chinese incursions, the Peoples Liberation Army and the Indian Army on Sunday decided to uphold treaties and agreements signed between the governments of the two sides to maintain peace and tranquility along the Line of Actual Control.
Singh visited Tawang on Thursday for the 'Maitree Diwas' celebrations to boost civil-military friendship in the region bordering China.
'Due to change in the weather, the challenges are increasing.' 'The morale of the air fighters is high and the availability of advanced equipment empowers them to face any enemy.'
A total of 207 police bravery medals were declared by the Union government apart from 89 President's police medals for distinguished service and 650 police medals for meritorious service, as per a list published by the Union home ministry.
Xi ordered the military to think about worst-case scenarios, scale up training and battle preparedness, promptly and effectively deal with all sorts of complex situations and resolutely safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests, state-run Xinhua news agency reported, without mentioning any specific issues that posed a threat to the country.
Chief of defence staff Bipin Rawat on Thursday said the controversy about the Chinese coming into the Indian territory and building a new village is 'not true,' and that the villages were well within the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control.
The project will be rolled out by government-owned company ITI within three years, they said, adding that the contract for its implementation was signed with the telecom entity on Thursday.
An Air India flight was sent to Wuhan on Friday to bring back the Indian students stuck in Hubei province, the epicentre of coronavirus.
The stand by China spelt out by its foreign ministry insisting that it takes the 1959 line on perception of the LAC amid a nearly five-month-long border standoff in eastern Ladakh triggered a strong reaction from India.
The deliberations focused on bringing down tension along the disputed borders and ways to bridge the trust deficit.
The MEA said there has not been any change in India's position on the LAC and the mutual redeployment as a result of the disengagement process should not be misrepresented.
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.
The Army Chief was in Ladakh on a two-day visit from June 23 to take stock of the situation.
Contours of talks are being chalked out and these can take place at multiple levels including Joint Secretary- level. There is still no official word on the proposed meet from both sides.
The two sides agreed that the next round of military dialogue should be held at an early date.
These missiles have a range of two to five km and they are capable of bringing down low flying helicopters and aircraft, they added.
'However, a lot of preparatory work would have to go in and China must be prepared to announce an end to the standoff by disengaging from the remaining areas along the LAC.'
The only way to resolve the current military standoff along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh was for Beijing to realise that trying to 'change the status quo by resorting to force or coercion, is not the right way forward', India's ambassador to China Vikram Misri said in a hard-hitting interview to PTI.
China has alleged that the Indian troops twice crossed the border line on June 15 for "illegal activities and provoked and attacked Chinese personnel" which led to serious physical conflict between the two sides, hours after the Indian Army said the violent face-off took place between the troops during the "de-escalation process" in the Galwan Valley.
'China would want to take a tougher stance against India forming those strategic partnerships and prevent Quad from becoming a military alliance.'
The use of the strategic road by the Indian security forces from Leh has helped in reducing the travel time between Leh and DBO to six hours.
In a statement, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said the focus of Modi's remarks at the meeting on Friday was the events of June 15 at Galwan that led to the loss of lives of 20 Indian military personnel.
"The army chief chief reviewed the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir and also operational preparedness of Northern Command at a high-level meeting," officials said.
The right path for the two sides is to respect and support each other as this serves our long-term interests, Chinese foreign minister said.
Chinese troops have been camping in the Finger area for over three months now and have even started fortifying their bases there with construction of bunkers and sangars.
Jaishankar, speaking at a virtual event hosted by the Asia Society, said that India has built the relationship with China over the course of last 30 years "and a basis for building that relationship has been peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control".
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang signed the border agreement to ensure that both countries do not tail each other's military teams along the LAC. Sheela Bhatt reports from Beijing
In 2020 India was compelled by China to change its national security strategy. From counter-insurgency, which the army has been focussed on for years, we shifted to conventional war, observes Aakar Patel.
After a gap of over two-and-half months, India and China on Sunday held the ninth round of military talks specifically focusing on ways to move forward on the long-negotiated disengagement process in eastern Ladakh as thousands of their troops remained deployed at friction points under freezing conditions.
'Neither will China -- at least for now -- because its troops are deployed in equal strength.' 'We are negotiating at equal terms right now and it's a game of patience.'
Planters from Assam said despite the Covid-19 pandemic, trade enquiries from China had been rising. However, owing to the growing conflict, enquiries may dry up. 'We have seen how the trade dried up in case of the Pakistan conflict and fear the same,' a planter from Assam said.
He termed the situation with China as 'very dangerous' and said India under Modi does not have any clear cut strategy on China, which is testing the country and will not sit silent.
The Army said it was also highlighted that completion of disengagement in other areas would pave the way for the two sides to consider de-escalation of forces and ensure full restoration of peace and tranquillity and enable progress in bilateral relations.
Under these rules, telecom gear makers have to share their source codes and get their equipment tested by third-party labs accredited to the government.
The BDCA is yet another dose of insidious placebos administered on the people of India by their own government that has been in perpetual denial over the steady incremental loss of strategic Indian territory, says R N Ravi
'It is a constantly evolving situation and will require deft handling at the ground level and at the highest level of military, diplomatic and political leadership,' observes Colonel S Dinny (retd), who served as Commanding Officer of an infantry battalion deployed in the Pangong Tso area.
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