On the
night of 15th April 2013, a Platoon-strength contingent (50 men) of
Peopls Liberation Army of China stealthily intruded 19 km inside
Indian territory across the line of actual control (LAC) and set up 4
tents in the Daulat Beg Oldi sector of the Northeast Ladakh. Another
tent was added after two weeks. The Chinese camp site was inside the
Indian territory near Burthe (Burtse)camp of the Indian Army at an
altitude of about 17000 feet. Responding to Chinese incursion, the
Indian army sent, 5th Battalion of Ladakh Scouts to the sector to
take on the PLA challenge on 17th April 2013, who set up its own
temporary camp just 500 meters (1600 feet) from the PLA in an eyeball
to eyeball confrontation situation.
On
18th April a flag meeting between an Indian team led by a
Brigadier-level officer and a senior Colonel from the Chinese side
failed to break the deadlock. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson
on the contrary asserted that China's forces had not crossed the Line
of Actual Control. He said
"China's
frontier troops are seriously abiding by the agreement between both
countries as well as the Line of Actual Control. Our troops are
patrolling the Chinese side of the LAC and have never trespassed that
line,"
Though
the local commanders of two armies in Ladakh, kept holding series of
flag meetings to sort out the incursion issue. Chinese Government
simple refused to accept that they have disturbed the status quo and
kept claiming that they were well within their areas of control. At
the diplomatic level, India's foreign office was in touch with
Chinese. The international press almost carried the story as told by
India's media, which was leaked to them in the first place by Indian
Army. In south east and east Asia it was picked up by all news
agencies. It was obvious that there were not very few takers for the
Chinese version of it and in already strained scenario in south east
and east Asia, this was another arrogant act by Chinese.
For
whatever reasons, a flag meeting held on Sunday 5th May 2013,which
took place at 4 p.m., turned out to be fruitful and a deal was
struck, which suddenly and mysteriously ended the row with commanders
from both sides shaking hands and ordering their troops, facing each
other 300 meters away, to dismantle their tents. By 7.30 PM, Chinese
were gone.
No one
knows, what was the original reason of intrusion and what was agreed
eventually on 5th
May 2013, though newspapers reported that India has agreed as part of
the deal, to dismantle a tin shed erected 5 Km inside of what Chinese
call LOC, on a small disputed part of the boundary, near 'Chumar'
monastery in south Ladakh, more than 300 Km away from the Depsang
plains point of incursion. This shed was apparently erected on 18th
April as a tactical response to Chinese incursion of 15th April and
India immediately agreed to dismantle it in the deal as it was only
meant as a tactical move to pressurize Chinese. The Chinese army
however maintained stony silence as neither they agreed that there
was an intrusion ever; nor was there any withdrawal.
Chinese
Army (PLA) customarily carries out a once a month press briefing,
where only local Chinese media were invited so far. This week, for
the first time in the history of Chinese military, select foreign
media was permitted for the briefing. Press Trust of India (PTI) was
the only Indian media to be invited to attend. Explaining the reasons
behind this change Colonel Geng Yansheng, spokesman for the ministry
of national defence told the reporters that this change has been
effected to contribute to better and more objective understanding of
China and Chinese military.
Making
full use of the opportunity, PTI representative raised the issue of
last year's intrusion in Depsang. To everyone's surprise, instead of
total denial of any such incident at Depsang, Chinese army spokesman
for the first time, actually accepted and acknowledged last year's
incursion at the Depsang valley in Ladakh region and said such
incidents occurred due to different perception about the line of
actual control. He said; "Last year there was some incident in
the border region. All the issues have been properly solved though
negotiations," He however failed to specifically mention the
Depsang valley by name but said; "The boundary line has not been
demarcated and both sides has different interpretation on the line of
actual control,"
It is
a good sign that things appear to be easing out on India China border
after both sides signed last October; Border Defence Cooperation
Agreement (BDCA) in which they reaffirmed the principle not to carry
out respective military capabilities against each other and proposed
confidence building measures. In depth discussions on implementing
BDCA on the ground were carried out during the visits of deputy chief
of staff of PLA Wang Guanzhong to New Delhi this year followed by
that of Indian Army chief General Bikram Singh here recently.
Explaining
the Chinese perspective, Col. Geng says; "China India border
issue is left over from history. The boundary line between the
countries has not been demarcated. Both sides have different
interpretations of the LAC. The agreement has provisions for example
to set up hotlines between the two militaries and to conduct periodic
meeting between the area command and operational departments and to
exercise maximum restraint when a stand off occurs.” According to
him the two militaries are in close contact to set up hotlines
between their headquarter.
I feel
that though the long term Chinese strategy in Depsang, may not be in
favour of status quo as it is here that they have a real
vulnerability
in their defences
in Ladakh, they must have decided to maintain peace for the present.
Indian
press has reported this week, similar incursions again in Ladakh.
However, Udhampur-based Army Spokesperson, Col S D Goswami has
denied that any such incident had taken place but said there was no
commonly delineated LAC between India and China, which could lead to
such transgressions.
23rd
August 2014
