China is building a new bridge linking the northern and the southern banks of Pangong Tso closer to its side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) or the de facto boundary with India in eastern Ladakh.
Though the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is building the bridge on its side of the LAC, it is apparently intended to pre-empt any future move by the Indian Army to gain an edge and has caused unease in the security establishment in New Delhi.
The Indian Army had carried out an overnight operation on August 29 and 30, 2020, occupying several dominating heights on the southern bank of Pangong Tso overlooking key positions of the PLA. The PLA had earlier built bunkers and observation posts and deployed additional troops near Finger 4 on the northern bank – thus denying access to the Indian Army to its earlier patrolling limit at Finger 8, which also marked the LAC as perceived by New Delhi. But the Indian Army’s August 29-30, 2020 move on the southern bank of Pangong Tso had given it a strategic advantage over the Chinese Army and later helped it in negotiating a deal for mutual withdrawal of troops by the two sides from the both banks of the lake.
A source in New Delhi said that China’s recent move to build the bridge over Pangong Tso was apparently aimed at enabling the PLA to respond quickly to any move by the Indian Army to gain an edge on the southern bank of the lake.
The northern and the southern banks of Pangong Tso were among the scenes of the stand-off between the Indian Army and the PLA since April-May 2020. The protracted negotiations between the two sides however resulted in mutual withdrawal of frontline troops from both banks of the lake in February 2021. This was followed by mutual withdrawal of troops from another face-off point known as Gogra Post in August 2021.
The stand-off in other places along the LAC in eastern Ladakh is still continuing though, with Indian Army deploying over 50,000 troops to counter any aggressive and unilateral move by the PLA to amass a large number of soldiers in order to change the status quo and push LAC westward.
The soldiers of the Indian Army exchanged sweets and greetings with the PLA personnel on the New Year's Day on Saturday, not only on the designated Chushul-Moldo meeting point on the LAC, but also at some other locations, where the two sides could not yet resolve the stand-off.
Beijing, however, also sent out a message to New Delhi on the first day of 2022 – by releasing a video showing PLA personnel unfurling the national flag of the country in Galwan Valley near the China-India LAC in eastern Ladakh. The spot where the flag was unfurled was apparently on China’s side of the LAC, but not very far from the scene where the PLA had a violent fact-off with the soldiers of India on June 15, 2020. The Indian Army had lost 20 soldiers in the clash and the Chinese PLA had acknowledged the death of four of its personnel.
Watch latest videos by DH here: