<p>Chief of the Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat on Friday didn't rule out a bigger conflict with China sparked by border skirmishes or unprovoked tactical military actions even as senior Army commanders from both nations met for the eight-time to explore ways to deescalate the simmering tension prevailing along the disputed boundary between the two nations for the past seven months.</p>.<p>Asserting that India would not accept any shift in the Line of Actual Control's position, General Rawat said that the possibility of border confrontations, transgressions and unprovoked tactical military actions spiralling into a larger conflict couldn't be discounted.</p>.<p>"Even though the Chinese People's Liberation Army faced unanticipated consequences for its misadventure in eastern Ladakh because of the firm and strong responses by the Indian armed forces, the situation along the LAC remained tense," he noted.</p>.<p>The comments from India's topmost military official came on a day when senior military commanders from India and China met for the eight-time to explore new ways to deescalate the tension at the LAC that witnessed firings from both sides for the first time since the 1962 India-China war.</p>.<p>"Our posturing is unambiguous. We will not accept any shifting of the LAC," said Gen Rawat addressing a webinar organised by the National Defence College, Delhi celebrating its diamond jubilee.</p>.<p>On the security challenges surrounding the western front, the CDS said the unabated proxy war unleashed by Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir coupled with vicious anti-India rhetoric took between the two countries to a new low.</p>.<p>"The surgical strikes after the Uri attack and Balakot airstrikes have delivered a strong message that Pakistan no longer enjoys the impunity of pushing terrorists across the LoC under the nuclear bogey. The new Indian template to deal with terrorism has injected ambiguity and uncertainty in Pakistan,” he said.</p>.<p>Gen Rawat said Pakistan would continue to profess that Kashmir is their unfinished agenda notwithstanding internal problems, failing economy, international isolation and vitiated civil-military relations.</p>.<p>"And their Army will continue to raise the bogey of an existential threat from India to justify their disproportionately large strength and need for funds to maintain its warfighting capabilities," said General Rawat.</p>.<p>Constant friction with two nuclear-armed neighbours, Gen Rawat said, posed a danger of regional strategic instability with the potential for escalation as the two countries were in collusion. "Furthermore, China's ever-expanding military maritime footprint in the Indo-Pacific region was also a matter of concern as India would witness China's aggressive pursuit of its hegemonic interests," he added.</p>
<p>Chief of the Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat on Friday didn't rule out a bigger conflict with China sparked by border skirmishes or unprovoked tactical military actions even as senior Army commanders from both nations met for the eight-time to explore ways to deescalate the simmering tension prevailing along the disputed boundary between the two nations for the past seven months.</p>.<p>Asserting that India would not accept any shift in the Line of Actual Control's position, General Rawat said that the possibility of border confrontations, transgressions and unprovoked tactical military actions spiralling into a larger conflict couldn't be discounted.</p>.<p>"Even though the Chinese People's Liberation Army faced unanticipated consequences for its misadventure in eastern Ladakh because of the firm and strong responses by the Indian armed forces, the situation along the LAC remained tense," he noted.</p>.<p>The comments from India's topmost military official came on a day when senior military commanders from India and China met for the eight-time to explore new ways to deescalate the tension at the LAC that witnessed firings from both sides for the first time since the 1962 India-China war.</p>.<p>"Our posturing is unambiguous. We will not accept any shifting of the LAC," said Gen Rawat addressing a webinar organised by the National Defence College, Delhi celebrating its diamond jubilee.</p>.<p>On the security challenges surrounding the western front, the CDS said the unabated proxy war unleashed by Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir coupled with vicious anti-India rhetoric took between the two countries to a new low.</p>.<p>"The surgical strikes after the Uri attack and Balakot airstrikes have delivered a strong message that Pakistan no longer enjoys the impunity of pushing terrorists across the LoC under the nuclear bogey. The new Indian template to deal with terrorism has injected ambiguity and uncertainty in Pakistan,” he said.</p>.<p>Gen Rawat said Pakistan would continue to profess that Kashmir is their unfinished agenda notwithstanding internal problems, failing economy, international isolation and vitiated civil-military relations.</p>.<p>"And their Army will continue to raise the bogey of an existential threat from India to justify their disproportionately large strength and need for funds to maintain its warfighting capabilities," said General Rawat.</p>.<p>Constant friction with two nuclear-armed neighbours, Gen Rawat said, posed a danger of regional strategic instability with the potential for escalation as the two countries were in collusion. "Furthermore, China's ever-expanding military maritime footprint in the Indo-Pacific region was also a matter of concern as India would witness China's aggressive pursuit of its hegemonic interests," he added.</p>
