Even as efforts are on to resolve tension at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, China has yet again come up with another provocation by putting up massive banners on the disputed Pangong Tso (lake). The first face-off nearly two months ago began here after soldiers from the two armies resorted to fisticuffs after the Chinese intruded into the Indian zone.
With the stand-off still on and the Chinese bolstering their troop strength, their latest move to put up banners and a map of China in Mandarin on the disputed land, has started ringing alarm bells in the security establishment here.
The inscriptions, located between “Finger 4” and “Finger 5” of the Pangong Tso, where the Chinese soldiers are present, measure approximately 81 metres in length and 25 metres in breadth. These maps were picked up by satellites.
Senior commanders of the Chinese army were also last week photographed repainting the character of “China” in a frontier position along the India-China boundary.
At present, the eyeball to eyeball confrontation between “Finger 4” to “Finger 8” is on between the two armies since May 5. Fingers denote mountain spurs and India has all along maintained that it has the right to patrol up to ‘Finger 8.’
However, the Chinese have blocked the patrols in the past too and this time it resulted in fisticuffs. Incidentally, this particular region witnessed such ugly scenes in 2017 too.
Having intruded more than four kms inside India at the Pangong Tso, the Chinese have occupied heights all along the river bank and erected more than 200 pre-fabricated huts for the troops.
Also, the Chinese have deployed more fast patrol interceptor boats at the Pangong lake forcing India to take counter measures. The Pangong stand-off is now turning into the most serious issue and the two rounds of talks between the Corps Commanders have so far failed to break the deadlock.
On June 27, Vikram Misri, India’s Ambassador to Beijing said, “The resolution of this issue is quite straight forward from our perspective. The Chinese side needs to stop creating obstruction and hindrances in the normal patrolling patterns of the Indian troops.’’