China’s unease over India’s intent on Aksai Chin sparked current tension in eastern Ladakh; India maintains aggressive posturing

China’s concerns over India’s intention to wrest back control of Aksai Chin apparently prompted the neighbouring communist country’s People’s Liberation Army to deploy additional troops along the disputed boundary between the two nations early this month in response to a road Indian Army built in eastern Ladakh.

Even as the military officials and the diplomats of India and China have been in touch, they could not yet diffuse the stand-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) – the de facto border between the two nations - on the north-bank of the Pangong Tso lake in eastern Ladakh. The Indian Army too sent reinforcements in response to deployment of additional troops by the Chinese PLA. Though no new scuffle between the soldiers of the two nations reported, the build-ups by both sides over the past couple of weeks escalated tension in the region.

A large number of Chinese PLA soldiers are staying put in about 80-100 tents set up close to a mountain spur on the bank of the lake, with more waiting in a nearby camp. The Indian Army also rushed additional troops as a countermeasure. The two sides also deployed additional boats to patrol the lake.

It has not yet turned into a face-off like the one that had happened in Doklam Plateau in western Bhutan in June-August 2017, when Indian and Chinese soldiers had an eyeball-to-eyeball situation for almost 72 days.

A source in New Delhi said that efforts were on to avert a rerun of the 2017 Doklam face-off on the bank of the Pangong Tso lake and a breakthrough might come next week.

Both Indian and Chinese soldiers often inadvertently transgress into the territory of each other due to differences in perception of the alignment of the LAC – not only in the mountain spurs on the banks of the Pangong Tso lake, but also in other places along the disputed boundary in western, middle or eastern sectors. The recent build-ups started after the Chinese PLA personnel attacked Indian Army soldiers with sticks and stones on May 5 in an area perceived in New Delhi to be well within the India’s side of the LAC. They also demolished some makeshift structures built by Indian Army soldiers.

The Chinese PLA followed up by building a bunker in order to restrict the access to an area where Indian Army soldiers regularly patrolled.

A source aware of New Delhi’s engagement with Beijing on boundary disputes, however, said that what had triggered the actions of the Chinese PLA was a road Indian Army had built a few months ago linking its military base at Daulat Beg Oldie with a village close to the Pangong Tso lake along with a bridge over a rivulet nearby.

The new road in fact branched out from another 255-kilometer-long one from Darbuk and Shyok to the DBO, which was completed by the Border Roads Organization (BRO) of India last year.

“Construction of the road and the bridge, as well as other such infrastructure closer to the LAC in eastern Ladakh, prompted the Chinese PLA to presume that Indian Army was preparing for a military move towards Aksai Chin,” the source told the DH in New Delhi.

China last year joined Pakistan to oppose India’s August 5 move to strip Jammu and Kashmir of its special status and reorganise the state into two Union Territories.

What in fact raised hackles in Beijing was Home Minister Amit Shah's statement in the Lok Sabha on August 6 that just as the entire J&K state had remained an integral part of India, the two new UTs too would include, not only India's territory, currently under illegal occupation of Pakistan, but also areas Pakistan had illegally ceded to China in 1963 as well as Aksai Chin – a territory east of Ladakh claimed by both India and China.

Beijing perceived it as a ploy by New Delhi to strengthen its claim on Aksai Chin, which is now administered by China but claimed by India as easternmost part of Ladakh (now a Union Territory).

When External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had held a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing on August 12, 2019, he had sought to allay the concerns of the communist country stating that New Delhi’s move on J&K had been India’s internal matter of India and not aimed at making new territorial claims along its disputed boundary with China.

New Delhi also repeatedly conveyed to Beijing over the past few months that it remained committed to finding a “fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solution to India-China boundary question” through talks between the Special Representatives of the two Governments

Modi’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Wang are currently leading the India-China talks on boundary as Special Representatives of the respective governments. They had held the 22nd round of talks in New Delhi in December 2019.

Beijing, however, seems to have remained suspicious about New Delhi’s intent and Indian Army’s moves on the Western Sector of the LAC, particularly on building infrastructure in eastern Ladakh.

China of late accused India of trespassing into its territory and illegally building defence facilities in the Galwan Valley near the Pangong Tso lake. The Global Times, a state-owned newspaper of the communist country, alleged that Indian Army soldiers had been trespassing into territory of China since early May. It also accused Indian Army of “illegally” constructing defence facilities in its territory in the Galwan Valley region.

New Delhi dismissed the allegation and accused Chinese PLA of hindering “normal patrolling” by Indian Army soldiers and thus escalating tension along the disputed boundary between the two neighbouring nations in eastern Ladakh. It underlined that India had always taken “a very responsible approach” towards border management, but, “at the same time”, it remained deeply committed to protecting its sovereignty and security”.

The Indian Army chief General M M Naravane visited Ladakh on Friday. He had a meeting with Lieutenant General Y K Joshi, the chief of the Army’s Northern Command, and Lieutenant General Harinder Singh, the commander of the Army’s 14 corps based in Leh, and reviewed the situation along the LAC.

Indian and Chinese soldiers also had a skirmish during a brief stand-off along the LAC at Naku La in northern Sikkim on May 9.