Red Dragon Army

Amid the border tension between India and China, the 5th round of talk is all set to defuse the tension near LAC. Since the last corps commander meeting, both sides agreed to pull back troops and restart the process of disengagement but, the status is more or less the same except, PP 14 and 15 where the process of disengagement was completed as agreed by two Asian giant. The situation in Depsang Plains and Pangong Tso lake is identical with no visibility of disengagement rather it was observed that the Chinese side deployed more troops as opposed to what they had agreed during the 4th Corps Commander meeting.

The unilateral change along the LAC by Peoples Liberation Army is highly criticized by New Delhi as it is a clear violation of the agreed border mechanism. Reports are also coming that PLA had built-up many permanent structures from fingers 5 to 8. PLA troops, camping near the “Bottleneck” area in Depsang, continue to block Indian soldiers from going to their traditional PPs, 10,11,12, and 13 after intruding deep into Indian territory.

Clearly, China has some different agenda, showing irresponsible behavior by deploying additional troops near LAC. On the contrary, the Indian side has never violated the T&C signed by or agreed by both the side. It was indicated by Mr. Barry O'Farrell, Australia's newly appointed High Commissioner to New Delhi that the Federal Government's support for India in the decades-long dispute has further disturbed Beijing.

In Beijing, the foreign ministry spokesman stated that its troops had “disengaged in most localities” and are preparing for the fifth round of Corps Commander-level meeting to resolve outstanding issues on the ground. On the contrary, the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Mr. Anurag Srivastava told reporters at the weekly briefing that there has been some progress made towards this objective but the disengagement process has not yet been completed. He reiterated that the maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the border areas is the “basis of our bilateral relationship. Therefore, we expect that the Chinese side sincerely works with us for complete disengagement and de-escalation and tries to fully restore peace and tranquillity in the border areas at the earliest as agreed.

As per recent development, Beijing has mobilized a battalion strength of People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers near Uttarakhand's Lipulekh Pass, one of the locations along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) where the movement of Chinese troops have been noticed over the last few weeks outside of the Ladakh sector. The heavy deployment of troops shows the real intention of Beijing that it never intended to defuse tension near LAC.