China claims its soldier transgressed into India due to darkness

According to sources, the Chinese soldier was handed back to Chinese military officials at Chushul along the LAC

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldier recently apprehended by the Indian Army “got lost due to darkness and complicated terrain”, the Chinese military claimed on Monday.

The Indian Army apprehended the Chinese PLA soldier early last Friday on the southern bank of Pangong Tso (lake) in Ladakh after he transgressed the Line of Actual Control (LAC) – the de facto boundary between the two nations in the western sector. He was handed over to the PLA at Chushul on the LAC on Monday, sources in New Delhi said.

Also Read | Ladakh row: A cautionary lesson for India for the 2020s

The Indian Army conducted an investigation into the circumstances in which the Chinese PLA soldier crossed the LAC and transgressed into the territory of India. The PLA soldier was questioned before he was handed over to the military officials of the neighbouring country.

“According to the agreements between China and India, a soldier of the Chinese border troops who got lost due to darkness and complicated terrain has been handed over to the Chinese border troops by the Indian side at noon on Jan. 11, 2021,” reported China Military Online, a web portal authorised by the communist country’s all-powerful Central Military Commission.

The Indian Army apprehended the Chinese PLA soldier “in area south of (the) Pangong Tso lake” during the “early hours” of Friday, amid the continuing stand-off along the LAC in eastern Ladakh.

The stand-off started “due to unprecedented mobilisation and forward concentration” by the Chinese Army in late April and early May last year. Though the diplomats and the senior military commanders had several rounds of talks over the past eight months, the stand-off could not be resolved.

Also Read | China calls for immediate return of PLA soldier held by Indian Army

The PLA soldier apprehended by the Indian Army was treated “as per laid down procedures”, sources said.

The Indian Army personnel had earlier apprehended another Chinese PLA soldier at Demchok in eastern Ladakh in October last year. The soldier was handed over to the officers of the Chinese Army, which had claimed that he had in fact gone missing while helping local herdsmen to find a yak along the China-India border.

China too had in September 2020 apprehended five youths from Arunachal Pradesh in north-eastern India. They had also accidentally crossed the McMahon Line – the de facto border between the two nations in eastern sector. They had been handed over to the Indian Army a few days later.

The Indian Army too had earlier in the same month helped three citizens of the neighbouring communist country after finding them stranded along China-India border areas in north Sikkim.