India and China hold military-level talks over Ladakh border issues, do not rule out conflict

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India and China hold military-level talks over Ladakh border issues, do not rule out conflict. (Photo courtesy: AP)

(TibetanReview.net, Jun22’20) – While India and China are holding their top military talks on the occupied Tibet side of the border to discuss the Galwan face-off and other points of dispute in Ladakh, both the sides were reported to be getting in battle-ready mode with deployment of more military assets and troops.

“All issues will be discussed including Galwan and the Fingers area,” ndtv.com Jun 22 cited Indian army sources saying, speaking of the Lieutenant General-level talks being held at Moldo in Chushul, eastern Ladakh.

The last meeting at this level was held was on Jun 6 when the two sides agreed to pull back their troops in attempts to de-escalate after weeks of tension and build-up. However, the Jun 15 night attack with deadly improvised weapons by a large body of Chinese troops on an Indian patrol team disrupted everything. It resulted in casualties on both sides and India authorizing its troops to open fire should a similar thuggish kind of attack recur.

In today’s talks, the generals will resume discussions on the disengagement process, which was stalled by the worst-ever border confrontation between the Indian and Chinese armies since 1967 last week, the report said.

The new rules are said to change the way the Indian Army operates across the LAC not just in Ladakh but also in Sikkim and in Arunachal Pradesh along the McMahon line.

Meanwhile India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has asked the armed forces to be “fully prepared” to take any “unprecedented” action as per the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), reported tribuneindia.com Jun 22.

Singh was reported to have directed the Army to be cautious during patrol duties along the LAC while asking the other two forces, the IAF and the Navy, to keep an eye on air intrusions or on any unusual activity at sea. All assets are ready and deployed, the report cited sources as saying.

China’s official media has retorted by asking India not to equate it with Pakistan. The Globaltimes.cn, China’s party mouthpiece, Jun 21 taunted India by saying New Delhi would be ‘more humiliated than 1962 if it launched a new conflict.

“India will be more humiliated than after the 1962 border conflict with China if it cannot control anti-China sentiment at home and has a new military conflict with its biggest neighbour,” it said in a commentary.

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