India, China Lock Horns Near Pangong Tso Lake

The Indian Army has accused China of transgressing into its territory near southern bank of Pangong Tso lake in Ladakh in the intervening night of August 29-30.

Talks between India and China have been stuck in a stalemate since mid-July. The former claimed to have thwarted the latter’s attempt to “change the status quo” on South bank of lake Pangong Tso.

“On the night of August 29/30, Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops violated the previous consensus arrived at during military and diplomatic engagements during the ongoing standoff in Eastern Ladakh and carried out provocative military movements to change the status quo,” Indian Army spokesperson Colonel Aman Anand was quoted as saying by ANI in a statement Monday.

He added that a Brigade Commander level Flag Meeting is currently in progress at Chulshul to resolve the issue.

India has pulled out of Russia’s Kavkaz-2020 tri-services military exercise in which “iron brothers,” china and Pakistan are taking part. Indian defense ministry cited COVID-19 as the reason behind its decision.

The Indian and Chinese armies are in a nearly four-month standoff at in Pangong Tso, Galwan Valley, Demchok and Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) in Eastern Ladakh. Tensions had flared up when military from both sides began deployment of advanced equipment along the border. Disengagement has been observed only in parts of Eastern Ladakh, at Patrolling Point 14 (PP14) in Galwan Valley, and PP15 in Hot Springs sector.

The Chinese military have continued to remain at Gogra sector and in Depsang Plains situated 18km west of Line of Actual Control (LAC). According to Indian media, China has blocked Indian troops’ access to five patrolling points in the region, close to the strategically important DBO post.

Satellite images published by open source intelligence expert detresfa_ on August 28 showed evidence of Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) constructing air defense infrastructure near Doklam located at China-India-Bhutan tri-junction. The region was the hotspot of 2.5-month violent standoff in 2017.