In a fresh escalation of tension between India and China, troops of both the countries came face-to-face near Burtse in northern ladakh on Saturday after the People’s liberation Army (PlA) was found building a watchtower close to the patrolling line.
Sources said the Indian Army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police had objected to PlA building the watchtower so close to the mutually-accepted border patrolling line. However, after PlA rejected these assertions, the Indian Army and ITBP dismantled the tower on Friday leading to a flare-up.
After the Indian side dismantled the tower, about 90 Chinese soldiers came to the area following which India too ramped up its troops’ presence by dispatching reinforcements, leading to a troop build-up in the area. However, as of now troops of both the sides are on their own side of the border patrol line.
Burtse is adjacent to Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) and is part of Depsang Valley which India perceives as its own territory while China claims it to be her. India in 2013 operationalised its airfield to keep the claim while the Chinese side too has been from time to time keeping the heat up in the area.
In April 2013, the area witnessed a 21-day standoff between troops of the two sides after PlA pitched five tents in the area to stake its claim over the territory. The situation cooled down after four flag meetings between the two sides. last year, in September, tension erupted when Chinese road construction workers crossed into India at 31-R point claiming they had orders to build a road up to Tible Mane, 5 km deep inside Indian territory. India positioned its troops and both sides were face-to-face again. Hectic talks led to the end of the stand-off.
In order to contain the regular flare-ups at the line of Actual Control, India and China have activated the Border Defence Cooperation Agreement while in March this year, the Special Representatives of India (NSA Ajit Doval) and China (State Councillor, Yang Jiechi) met in New Delhi to discuss the resolution of the long-standing territorial disputes. Both nations agreed to expand interaction between the border forces of the two sides as these constitute important confidence building measures for maintaining peace and tranquility in the border areas.