Indian Army fired 'warning shots' along LAC, PLA forced to take 'countermeasures': China

Indian Army had “again illegally crossed” the LAC on the south bank of Pangong Tso, PLA claimed

Tension escalated further along the disputed boundary between India and China as the soldiers of the two nations exchanged fire on the south bank of Pangong Tso (lake) in eastern Ladakh on Monday night.

China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) claimed that its soldiers had been forced to take “countermeasures” in response to the “warning shots” fired by the Indian Army personnel at them on the south bank of the Pangong Tso.

A source in New Delhi confirmed the incident of firing without giving any details. It is still not clear if the Indian Army or the Chinese PLA suffered any casualties.

Senior Colonel Zhang Suili, a spokesperson of the PLA’s Western Theatre Command, issued a statement late at night stating that the Indian Army had “again illegally crossed” the Line of Actual Control (LAC) on the south bank of Pangong Tso (lake) on Monday.

The Global Times, a media organization run by the Communist Party of China, quoted Sr Colonel Zhang in a post on Twitter, stating that the Indian Army personnel had “outrageously fired warning shots” on the PLA border patrol soldiers.

The PLA personnel were about to negotiate when they were fired upon by the Indian Army soldiers, the Global Times tweeted quoting Sr Colonel Zhang.

The exchange of fire took place just three days after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had a meeting with his counterpart in the Chinese government, Wei Fenghe, on the sidelines of a conclave of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Moscow. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar too is likely to have a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sideline of another SCO meet in Moscow later this week.

It was the second incident of firing after the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA got engaged in a standoff on multiple locations along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) – the de facto boundary between the two nations in the western sector – in early May. The first violent face-off between the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA took place in Galwan Valley on June 15. The Indian Army lost 21 soldiers in the clash in Galwan Valley. The PLA too suffered casualties, but never made public the number of its soldiers, who were injured or killed in the clash.

“India’s actions seriously violated the relevant agreements between China and India, pushing up regional tensions and easily causing misunderstandings and misjudgments,” the spokesperson of the PLA’s Western Theater Command stated after the two sides exchanged fire on Monday. He termed the action of the Indian Army as “serious military provocations”.

He said that the Indian Army should immediately stop “dangerous actions” and pull back troops, who crossed the LAC and entered into the territory of China.

The PLA spokesperson also asked the Indian Army to “strictly restrain” its front-line troops, and “strictly investigate and punish personnel who fired shots” on the Chinese Army soldiers – in order to ensure that similar incidents do not occur again.

He said that the PLA would resolutely perform its duties and missions and resolutely defend territorial sovereignty of China.

The Indian Army during August 29-30 night carried out an operation on the south bank of the Pangong Tso to pre-empt a fresh move by the Chinese PLA to cross the LAC and transgress into the territory of India.

The Indian Army personnel took over the mountaintops overlooking the Chinese PLA’s positions in the area, thus pre-empting the imminent incursion bid by the communist country’s soldiers.

The Chinese PLA already dug in heels on the northern bank of the lake and declined to withdraw troops to restore the status quo in the area – thus stalling the process of disengagement it had agreed with the Indian Army to end the standoff, which started early May.

China did thin out troops from the “Finger 4” on the northern bank of the Pangong Tso in early July, after it agreed with India on a process of mutual withdrawal of troops from all the face-off scenes along the LAC. The PLA, however, held on to the area between “Finger 5” and “Finger 8” – an eight-kilometre-long stretch it took over after its stand-off with the Indian Army started in early May. It rather brought in more troops, built bunkers and observation posts, dug trenches, pitched tents and set up new prefabricated huts to accommodate additional soldiers, apart from deploying its navy unit with more speed-boats for patrolling on the lake.

The Chinese Army not only fortified its position in the entire stretch from “Finger 5” to “Finger 8”, but also occupied the ridgeline overlooking the “fingers” – thus effectively controlling an area of nearly 30 sq. kms. denying access to the Indian Army to places it regularly patrolled before the stand-off started three months ago.

The Indian Army is currently holding on to its position between “Finger 2” and “Finger 3” on the northern bank of the lake.

The spurs of the mountain range on the northern bank of the Pangong Tso jut towards the lake like the ‘fingers’ of the palm, with the “Finger 1” at the western end and the “Finger 8” at the eastern end. China claims that the LAC, after cutting through the Pangong Tso, goes through the “Finger 4”. India, on the other hand, claims that the line goes through the “Finger 8”.

The Indian Army earlier regularly sent patrols from its Maj Dhan Singh Thapa post near “Finger 3” all the way up to “Finger 8”. But the soldiers of the two nations had a scuffle near “Finger 4” on May 5. The PLA later built bunkers and observation posts and deployed additional troops in the area, thus denying access to the Indian Army to its earlier patrolling limit – the “Finger 8”. The Indian Army too deployed additional troops in response to the PLA build, resulting in the standoff, which soon spread to other areas along the LAC.

That China dug in its heels in the ‘finger’ areas on the bank of the Pangong Tso was evident when its envoy to India, Sun Weidong, asserted the communist country’s claim on the entire stretch. “On the northern bank of Pangong Lake, China's traditional customary boundary line is in accordance with the LAC. There is no such (thing) as China expanded its territorial claim,” Sun said, while responding to a question during a webinar hosted by Institute of Chinese Studies in New Delhi on July 30.