(TibetanReview.net, Sep30’24) – With the huge trust deficit with China continuing along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), India is going full steam ahead with preparations to maintain its forward deployment of troops for the fifth successive winter in the forbidding terrain of eastern Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh-Sikkim, reported the timesofindia.com Sep 30.
With this decision., India has continued to avoid falling into China’s trap of the waiting game, thereby maintaining its strategic troops deployment and preventing the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) from making any further unjust advancements, said zeenews.india.com Sep 30.
Dismissing the significance of the possible suggestions of “progress and narrowing of differences” following recent political-diplomatic talks, top sources in India’s defence establishment have told the timesofindia.com that “the trust deficit on the ground with the PLA remains very high”.
They have pointed to the way China continues to strengthen its forward military positions as well as build “permanent defences” and infrastructure all along the 3,488-km LAC. “It is quite clear the PLA will not be returning to its peacetime locations in the near future,” the sources have added.
As the Indian Army transitions from “the summer to winter posture”, with massive “winter stocking” underway for the additional troops forward deployed along the frontier, General Upendra Dwivedi and the commanders-in-chief of the force’s seven commands will also review the operational situation at a meeting to be held in Gangtok (Sikkim) on Oct 9-10, the report said.
Talk of a possible breakthrough in the military confrontation in eastern Ladakh has been fuelled by a flurry of bilateral political-diplomatic talks over the last couple of months. These included the 30th and 31st meetings of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) on Jul 31 and Aug 29, which were followed by a meeting between national security advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi on the side-lines of a BRICS meet at St Petersburg on Sep 12.
However, in the end, there was no change in China’s position, which was made explicit when the rival military corps commanders held their 21st round of talks way back on Feb 19. At that time, China again rebuffed India’s push for defusing the two major continuing face-offs at the strategically-located Depsang Plains, which is towards the crucial Daulat Beg Oldie and Karakoram Pass in the north, and the Charding Ninglung Nallah track junction near Demchok, the report said.
Besides, “disengagement at Depsang and Demchok, if it happens, will only be the first step. Till the subsequent de-escalation and de-induction of troops take place for restoration of status quo ante, the threat will remain,” a senior officer has said.
As the situation now stands, the creation of buffer zones after the earlier troop disengagements at Galwan Valley, Pangong Tso-Kailash Range and Gogra-Hot Springs up till Sep 2022 as well as the confrontation at Depsang and Demchok has meant that Indian troops cannot access 26 of their 65 patrolling points (PPs), which begin from the Karakoram Pass in the north and go down to Chumar in the south in eastern Ladakh, the report said.
“Even the buffer zones were meant to be only temporary arrangements. China continues to make unreasonable demands and is playing the long waiting game. India has to be careful about not falling into China’s trap,” the officer has said.
There is said to be a growing realization, as the military stalemate persists, that only politico-diplomatic talks can break the deadlock.
“If the two sides agree to a broad framework, the actual disengagement modalities at Depsang and Demchok can be worked out at the military level,” the officer has added.
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India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has on Sep 28 taken a veiled dig at China during his address at the United Nations General Assembly, stating that the sanctioning of global terrorists by the United Nations should not be impeded for political reasons.
He was obviously referring to China’s repeated moves over the past several years to prevent the UN security Council from sanctioning Pakistan based terrorists when sought by India and other countries.
“Terrorism is antithetical of everything that the world stands for. All its forms of and manifestations must be resolutely opposed. The sanctioning of global terrorists by the United Nations should also not be impeded for political reasons,” timesnownews.com Sep 28 quoted Jaishankar as having said.