India, China see frequent face-offs along the border
New Delhi: The Yangtse area of Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang, which saw an India-China clash last week, has witnessed similar face-offs several times over the past few years. The Indian post in this area is at a height of 17,000 feet, overlooking the Chinese position, which gives the Indian side an advantage.
“Usually the face-offs in this area occur in the September-October period before winter. This year, surprisingly, the Chinese came in December. They do it routinely every year. The intensity of the face-off varies from one year to another,” a source said.
India is in an extremely strong position in the area with the required strength. “We had information about their build-up and were prepared for them,” said sources. “The front post has around 20-30 people but there is another post near it and has a larger number of troops positioned. The troops from the second post were also present during the clash,” said sources. They denied that any firing incident happened during the clash.
The area had seen a two-and-a-half-month face-off during the Kargil war between Indian and Chinese troops. The Chinese have been raising the issue of removal of the post periodically from many years now during flag officers’ meetings. However, sources see it as an isolated incident.
“The overall situation in the Northeast and Ladakh is currently stable and quiet,” said one source.
Since the military stand-off with China in May 2020, the Indian Army has increased its force deployment all along the LAC and has maintained a high level of alert.
Indian and Chinese soldiers regularly indulge in face-offs at the LAC due to differences in perception about the boundary. However, since 2020, Chinese soldiers have become more aggressive during these face-offs and have been sending larger groups of its soldiers. PLA troops even use improvised weapons, including iron rods studded with nails, to attack the Indian soldiers.
This is third straight winter when Indian Army troops will be stationed in forward positions in the Ladakh sector. The Indian Air Force is also carrying out sorties to prevent the Chinese aircraft from coming closer to the LAC.
