JOIN USIndia is likely to take up the issue of recent Chinese incursions into Ladakh at a crucial bilateral meeting, where the two neighbours are expected to discuss the border defence cooperation agreement (BDCA) that aims at reducing occasional flashpoints along the Sino-Indian border.
India and China will discuss several technical points in the second draft of the crucial agreement over the next two days in the capital in an attempt to finalise the text at the earliest. The pact seeks to formalise some of the practices the two armies follow to sort out face-offs along the 4057-km-long disputed border.
Last week, Chinese troops entered the Chumar sector of southern Ladakh three times on July 16, 18 and 20. At least on one occasion, the Chinese troops came within a couple of kilometres of the Indian posts. Two Chinese helicopters also violated the airspace in the same area where India enjoys a geographical advantage.
Army chief General Bikram Singh on Monday submitted a report on the Ladakh incursions to Defence Minister A K Antony and briefed National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon. The Indian Army has sought a flag meeting at the Spanggur gap area to discuss these incidents, but are yet to receive any response from China. The bilateral meeting would be the first one after the Depsang valley intrusions in April, when the Chinese troops came 19 km inside the Indian territory in north Ladakh close to Daulat bag Oldie, an advanced landing ground of the Indian Air Force.
A new draft of the BDCA came up for discussion after India rejected China’s proposal for having a bilateral arrangement to notify each other in advance before sending troops on patrol along the disputed Line of Actual Control, which separates the two countries in the absence of a mutually-agreed boundary.
The proposed agreement seeks to consolidate the arrangements New Delhi and Beijing agreed upon in the 1993 and 1996 deals as well as the 2005 protocol for Confidence Building Measures between their armies. The Army is totally against disclosing patrol timings which would rob the exercise off the surprise element.
Army officials said since there are different perceptions on the LAC, there are severa incursions from either side. But there has not been a spike in incursions in the recent past. “In fact the Chinese comes with GPS and stays within what they perceive to be their LAC,” said an Army officer.
Several intrusions
There are close to 150 instances of intrusions in the western and eastern sectors in the last six to seven months.
When Menon visited China earlier this year for the 16th round of boundary talks with his counterpart Yang Jiechi, the Ministry of External Affairs said the two countries had discussed “ways and means of strengthening existing mechanisms for consultation and coordination on border affairs and methodology to enhance the efficiency of communications between the two sides.”
The Chinese foreign ministry also stated that both sides agreed “to give full play to the existing mechanisms on border-related issues and maintain peace and tranquillity in border areas before issues are resolved.”