(TibetanReview.net, Jan27’23) – India has been slowly losing ground to China in Ladakh as the border has been pushed inside Indian territory through the creation of buffer zones, reported Reuters Jan 27, citing a confidential research paper by the Ladakh police. The research was also cited as saying border skirmishes “may or may not follow a pattern” but with Beijing continuing to ramp up military infrastructure in the region, India should brace for more clashes.
The assessment was stated to be part of a new, confidential research paper by the Ladakh police submitted at a conference of India’s top police officers held from Jan 20 to 22.
The paper was cited as saying the assessment was based on intelligence gathered by local police in the border areas and the pattern of India-China military tensions over the years.
Those who attended the conference included Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.
“Given the domestic compulsions … in China and their economic interests in the region, the PLA would continue to build up its military infrastructure and skirmishes would also get frequent which may or may not follow a pattern,” the paper was quoted as saying, referring to People’s Liberation Army of the Communist Party of China.
“With the massive infrastructure build up by PLA on Chinese side both the armies are testing each other’s reaction, strength of artillery and infantry mobilisation time”.
India and China share a 3,500km (2,100 miles) border that has been disputed since the latter’s annexation of Tibet in the 1950s, which New Delhi acceded to in a 1954 Sino-India trade deal. The two sides went to war over it in 1962.
At least 24 soldiers were killed when the armies of the two Asian giants clashed in Ladakh, in the western Himalayas, in 2020 but tensions eased after military and diplomatic talks. A fresh clash erupted between the two sides in the eastern Himalayas in December but there were no deaths.