intrusion by pla troops

On 19 April, Xi was present at a high-level PLA ceremony in Beijing to inaugurate the Information Support Force as a replacement for the Strategic Support Force (SSF). The latter existed for just over eight years, and it remained a somewhat shadowy force. However, its functions were explained by the names of key constituent units such as the Space Systems Department and Network Systems Department.

Eastern Army Commander Lt Gen Anil Chauhan on Wednesday said there have been no intrusions or major face-offs in the area of responsibility of the Eastern Command since the Ladakh standoff between Indian troops and China's PLA.

The defence establishment has officially acknowledged that Chinese soldiers intruded into Indian territory in eastern Ladakh in May, amid the ongoing deadlock over troop disengagement at the faceoff sites in Pangong Tso and Gogra despite five rounds of top-level military talks.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh, who was in the city on Monday to attend his sister-in-law's cremation, said that all the information about the recent Chinese intrusion in Tawang was shared in Parliament and added that "it was true and sufficient".

The Chinese intruders, according to reports, crossed the Indus to the Indian side to display banners and the Chinese flag. Most Buddhists in Ladakh hold the Dalai Lama in reverence and his winter palace near Leh is kept in a state of constant readiness.

India and China kicked off another round of military talks on Wednesday, with the two sides engaging in “tough negotiations” towards de-escalating the ongoing troop confrontation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh since early-May. The talks on Wednesday will be followed by a series of meetings between the rival brigadier and colonel-level officers.

India will remain firm on the ground in the ongoing troop confrontations in eastern Ladakh where it said China has violated the unresolved boundary and obstructed Indian patrols even as New Delhi remains committed to a peaceful and diplomatic resolution. India will soon resume border infrastructure construction activities derailed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Chinese troops reportedly entered almost 25 km into Indian territory in Ladakh on Sunday, in an area close to where the two sides had a tense three-week standoff last year.

An ex-naval officer tells the story of 120 Indian soldiers who put up a valiant fight against the 5,000-strong Chinese military troops in the 1962 Indo-China war, preventing a possible occupation of the entire Ladakh region

The union home ministry, in reply to a Parliament question last week, chose to play down the reported incursions by Chinese troops, describing them only as “transgressions”.

India on Saturday once again asked China during a top-level military dialogue to disengage at Gogra and Hot Springs as well as restore "unhindered patrolling rights" in Depsang, which can then be followed by de-induction of troops and the consequent de-escalation along the frontier in eastern Ladakh.

On July 20, a Chinese patrol came inside Chumar in the evening and after spending a few hours there, went back to their positions across the LAC, sources said.

The dominant sentiment coming to the fore in the armed forces is that India should jettison its ultra-defensive mindset towards China, and if it requires "a show of force" to resolve the ongoing military standoff in Ladakh, then so be it.

Riding on horses and ponies, around 50 Chinese soldiers intruded into the Indian territory of Chumar in Ladakh on July 16 staking their claim over the area.

The Indian forces are bracing for more “shallow intrusions” or “needling probes” from China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in vulnerable spots along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), according to sources in the Indian defence establishment.