India Gains Offensive Edge on Indo – Tibetan LAC With China
By
Colonel Awadhesh Kumar, Special Forces
Frontier defense soldiers assigned to a border defense regiment with the Shannan Military Sub-command under the PLA Tibet Military Command patrol the snow-blanketed border at the elevation of over 5,000 meters in Occupied Tibet Region on January 23, 2021.
Chinese Communist Party in order to celebrate their 100th year made a secret plan to capture some more Indian territory in Ladakh and the move forward the LAC. They carried out military deployment in occupied Tibet in the garb of summer military exercise and then suddenly moved two divisions towards the LAC in Chinese Occupied Ladakh. The attack in Galwan Valley not only failed miserably but in the bargain PLA lost over 40 of its troops including the battalion commander.
Later on, in order to justify their actions, PLA termed the concentration of troops on the LAC as a normal defense arrangement aiming at preventing and responding to encroachment and threats on China’s occupied territory.
India’s foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has now said that China’s military deployment along the LAC with India and uncertainty over whether Beijing will fulfill its promise on troop reductions remains “a challenge” for relations between the two neighbors, according to a Bloomberg report.
In turn Chinese repeated their falsehood that “ for a long time, the root cause of tensions along the China-India LAC has been India’s increase of its military deployment along the LAC. That China always stands for a peaceful settlement of the boundary issue through negotiation and does not agree to link the boundary issue with bilateral relations. ”
What a joke …..Chinese want improved bilateral relations, increase their trade with India but will keep attacking in Ladakh and if they can then in Arunachal and other places too!!!!!
In line with their propaganda and a form of “ psy warfare “ they have again harped that India should stop political manipulation and make efforts to realize full disengagement at an early date, as China’s will to cherish peace and its military strength are both stronger than India’s, experts said, after a media report said India had deployed at least 50,000 additional troops to China-India border regions.
This means that Chinese have taken note of India moving additional forces into Ladakh to establish a strike force. This strike formation will take the battle deep into Tibet, if PLA makes another mistaje of any violation of the LAC. India has made it very clear that though we want peace, now onwards no nonsense will be tolerated. India has also made it clear that all bilateral ties and trade will depend on a fully negotiated and marjed Indo Tibetan Border and a fully negotiated and demarcated Tibet China Border.
Bloomberg has described India’s strategic move as a “historic shift toward an offensive military posture” against China. Citing sources, the report said India has dispatched troops and fighter jet squadrons to three border areas, and there are about 200,000 Indian troops along the LAC.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Monday that the situation on the China-India LAC is generally stable and the two sides are negotiating on the issue.
Indian Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh visited Ladakh to review military preparedness, his first visit to the area since the Pangong Lake region disengagement in February.
“The words and deeds and military deployment of the Indian military and political dignitaries should be conducive to easing the situation and enhancing mutual trust, not the opposite,” Wang said at a press briefing. This means that Chinese have noted the Indian move with Concern and will keep behaving till they perceive to have gained sime advantage over the Indians.
“India has a large number of troops in the border area who are not just conducting a simple patrol… But even at the most intense time of the border dispute in 2020, India did not achieve the logistical support of 200,000 men,” Zhao Gancheng, director of the Center for Asia-Pacific Studies at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies, told the Global Times on Monday.
The above either shows complete lack of knowledge or a” morale boosting message” to the PLA. Indian Army akready has 14 Corps in Ladakh and a new Corps has now moved in. Then another Corps is covering the Sikkim and adjoining Zone and finally 3and 4 Corps in Arunachal. On top of that is 17 Strike Corps to teach a lesson to any daring enemy in the high Himalayas.
“Geopolitically speaking, instability on the China-India border is good news for the US,” Zhao said. This actually means that now the Chinese will be very careful and will not make any rash moves to provoke the Indian Army in any way.
Observers said that India has made the shift to offensive defence posture to give a clear message to the Chinese Communist Party that it means business. This posture will certainly give an added leverage for the negotiations for a fully demarcated LAC and after vacation of Occupied Ladakh by the PLA, a fully demarcated Indo Tibetan Border.
China and India had their 22nd meeting under the consultation and coordination mechanism on the LAC issues on Friday, and both sides agreed to consolidate results of disengagement of frontline troops and properly manage the remaining problems along the western section of the LAC.
The two countries also agreed to maintain high-level diplomatic communication to offer further guidelines to properly deal with LAC issues and Indo Tibetan Border issues, and actively prepare for the 12th round of commander-level talks and determine the time and arrangement through the LAC hotline.
The communication channels are still opening, and the two countries should make efforts to prevent the LAC situation deteriorating, Zhao said.
China has never held any military advantage over India, not even in 1962. The PLA would have received the bashing of the century had they not withdrawn totally from Arunachal after penetrating right up to Bhalukpong on Arunachal Assam State line.
Since the start of the year, the PLA Xinjiang Military Command has been commissioning a number of advanced weapons and equipment including Type 15 light tanks, PCL-161 122mm-caliber self-propelled howitzers, PHL-03 long-range multiple rocket launcher systems, HQ-17A field air defense missile systems, and different variations in the Type 08 armored vehicle family, Chinese media reported.
India too has matched it with matching and even more advanced weapon systems. Indian troops are highly trained and experienced in High Altitude and Mountain Warfare and the forcibly recruited conscripts of the PLA are no match physically or mentally.