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China stalling bid to defuse tension at LAC

After agreeing to hold upgraded military-level talks this week, China is yet to confirm the date, stalling attempt to defuse the volatile situation prevailing at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh. The situation is so grim that the border saw at least four incidents of firing by the Indian and Chinese armies in the last 15 days.

Tension cooled down after extensive talks between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on September 10. It was agreed there to continue the military and diplomatic-level talks.

Sources said China was yet to inform India about the next date though they had agreed in principle to have the next round sometime this week.

With the Opposition seeking to know from the Government if China occupied any part of our land during repeated attempted transgression since May, the Defence Minister will make a statement on India-China issue in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

This announcement came after a meeting chaired by the Defence Minister resolved that the Government will allow discussions on issues like the China crisis, GST, Covid and National Education Policy.

During the meeting, Rajnath agreed to take one or two questions on the LAC situation after his speech in the Rajya Sabha.

India is concerned over the PLA troops build-up because the Chinese have so far not given any indication of starting the process of genuine disengagement. So far Lt General Harinder Singh and his Chinese counterpart Liu Lin have held five rounds of talks since June but could not achieve any breakthrough. In the last round of talks on August 2, both sides agreed to withdraw their troops from the friction points and pull back additional troops from the depth areas as a confidence-building measure.  However, China later refused to do so and the stalemate continues.

Holding a bilateral meeting at the political level in Moscow for the first time since the stand-off on the LAC in Eastern Ladakh started in May, the two Foreign Ministers agreed on a five-point plan to disengage and de-escalate at the border. Since then relative peace prevailed with both the armies staying put at their positions on all the friction points.

As regards incidents of firing, sources said here on Wednesday the border witnessed four such episodes. This revelation came even as both the sides so far maintained that one incident had taken place on September 7. While China had blamed India of opening fire, India flatly denied the accusation and held responsible Chinese troops for breaching the 45-year-old peace.

Giving the chronology of events, sources in the security establishment said the first two incidents took place on August 29 and 30 when the Indian troops thwarted a Chinese provocative action to advance into south bank of the Pangong Tso (lake).

The third incident also took place there on September 7 when the belligerent Chinese troops fired warning shots in the air but the Indian Army maintained calm. This provocative act by the Chinese was part of a failed attempt to dislodge the Indian Army troops now positioned on the strategically important hill tops in the area.

This firing incident was just four days after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Chinese counterpart held more than two hour-long bilateral meetings in Moscow during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meet on September 4.

The fourth episode of both sides firing in the air as a warning was reported from the northern bank of the Pangong Tso (lake) on September 9. It was a day before Jaishankar was to hold parleys with Wang Yi.

The Indian Army in a preemptive move readjusted its troop deployment and occupied heights on the north bank in the first week of this month. The Chinese have intruded more than five km here and have deployed a large number of troops.

However, the surprise move by the Indian Army now has placed it in an advantageous position as it now overlooks the Chinese posts at most points in the zone. This rattled them and the Chinese tried to dislodge the Indian troops on September 7 and 10 leading to firing, sources said.

Since then, the Indian Army is now deployed on key hills, including Black Top besides Rezang La and Rechin La. Mountain passes are known as La in the Tibetan language. The latest attempt by the PLA to remove the Indian soldiers was in the area between these two mountain passes at Mukhpari, sources said.

Thursday, 17 September 2020 | PNS | New Delhi

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