In a recent development to the Indo-China border dispute, it has come to the fore that the Chinese have erected tents on the Indian side of the Charding Nala in Demchok in eastern Ladakh.
According to information provided by some officials, the people occupying these tents as ‘so-called civilians’, despite India’s demand to go back are not willing to retreat.
As per sources, China had proposed the 12th round of Corps Commander-level talks on Monday, but India, which observes July 26 as Kargil Day, asked for the discussions to be postponed till the first week of August. However, despite the delay in talks, some officials have stated that the two sides have exchanged messages nearly 1,500 times over the hotlines at Daulat Beg Oldie and Chushul since the Galan valley standoff began.
Despite the exchanges, a senior official told The Indian Express that things have not progressed along the LAC due to the different priorities of the two sides.
India has been pushing for disengagement from all the friction points first, while China wants de-escalation, and for the additional troops in the depth areas to go back to their original bases before the rest of the friction points are disengaged. Regardless things have been stable with no stand-off or aggression from either side since February of this year, a senior official noted.
The official attributed the delay in any sort of resolution to the loss of trust which is the primary reason why both sides continue to have nearly 50,000 troops each deployed in the region.
Meanwhile, both the armies have been engaged in upgrading their defense works and infrastructure and inducting new-generation equipment in the region.
‘China has been rotating its troops in eastern Ladakh and is developing “military infrastructure at a very fast pace”, including billeting, ammunition points, and artillery positions. In their depth areas, nearly four divisions of Chinese troops are positioned along the G219 highway that passes through Aksai Chin, connecting the troubled Xinjiang and Tibet provinces,’ sources told TIE.
At present, platoon-sized units of Chinese troops continue to be on the Indian side of the LAC at Patrolling Points 15 and 17A, and continue to block Indian troops from accessing their patrolling limits at the Bottleneck in Depsang Plains while Indian troops are positioned at all strategic places, noted a government official.
Notably, there have face-offs between Indian and Chinese troops in Demchok earlier as well. The two sides had agreed that Demchok and Trig Heights were disputed points on the Line of Actual Control during meetings of the India-China joint working groups in the 1990s. Later 10 more areas namely Samar Lungpa, Depsang Bulge, Point 6556, Changlung Nala, Kongka La, Pangong Tso north bank, Spanggur, Mount Sajun, Dumchele, and Chumar were also added to this list of disputed points, reported The Indian Express.
Besides the 12 disputed joints, five friction points like KM120 in the Galwan Valley, PP15 and PP17A in the Shyok Sula area, Rechin La, and Rezang La have also been to the LAC in eastern Ladakh over the last year following the course of Galwan valley disruption.
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Source: News18