NEW DELHI, Apr 25:
India will increase the number of its troops if the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) enhances the strength of its soldiers in the Indian territory of Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) sector in eastern Ladakh, Government sources said today.
All the formations of the Army from the Leh-based 14 Corps to the 3 Corps in Northeast deployed along the China border are also on alert to check any attempt by the PLA troops to enter Indian territory, they said.
A platoon of Chinese troops had intruded into the Indian territory on April 15 and erected its tents there claiming that they are well within their area after which India also stationed a small military camp of Army and ITBP troops near their location.
At the moment, the Army has been told to keep an eye on the movement of Chinese troops and adopt a “non-aggressive approach” in the area but if the PLA increases its troops size, the force will also increase its numbers there, the sources said.
Around 30 Chinese troops are based in two locations including a tented area and another place where the soldiers of the two sides are facing each other with banners in their hands, they said.
The sources said the Chinese troops are from the Border Defence Regiment of the PLA which is located 25 kms north of the location where they have erected their tents.
The Chinese side, they said, is believed to be getting its supplies from its parent unit through the Raki Nala which flows from Chinese side into the Indian side.
The Chinese troops are armed with assault rifles and no heavy weapon has been seen so far with them. They also have two small vehicles for supporting their movement, the sources said.
They said the Indian side may seek a flag meeting with the Chinese but so far it has not been decided.
The two sides have already had two rounds of flag meetings without any success as the Chinese troops have not yet left from there.
Meanwhile, Army chief Gen Bikram Singh today briefed Defence Minister A K Antony on the Chinese incursion issue in Ladakh and the present situation there.
After reviewing the situation in J&K and the Ladakh area with military commanders in the Northern Command, Gen Singh briefed the Defence Minister on the incursion issue today, Army officials said.
The Army chief had returned from J&K yesterday evening after reviewing the situation there with Northern Army Commander Lt Gen K T Parnaik, they said.
The Army had rushed its troops from the 5 Ladakh Scouts battalion to the DBO area and they are camping there. The force is also considering the option of dispatching additional troops if the need arises.
On April 15, a platoon-strength contingent of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) had come 10 km inside the Indian territory in Burthe in the DBO sector on the night of April 15 and established a tented post there.
Meanwhile, an Indian Army team today held talks with their Chinese counterparts in Beijing to enhance the bilateral engagement between the two armies and on the next edition of the hand-in-hand joint exercise.
The team has gone to China to finalise the dates of bilateral military exercises expected to be held later this year after a gap of over four years.
The Indian delegation is headed by a Brigadier from the Military Operations branch to finalise the exercise, which is expected to be held in September-October time frame this year.
India and China had last held the last edition of the exercise in December 2008 in Belgaum in Karnataka, while the first edition was held in 2007 in Kunming province of China.
The team is expected to return tomorrow from Beijing.
The delegation was sent by the Indian Government despite the incursions into Ladakh by Chinese troops which have established a camp there by putting up their tents.
Asserting that India was “not a pushover”, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid today said he was confident that the issue of Chinese incursion in Ladakh would be resolved before he visits Beijing on May 9.
Khurshid, who arrived at Almaty in the Kazakh capital for an international conference on Afghanistan, said “We are not scared. We are not pushovers”.
He was replying to a question on whether India was scared of China.
“I want to appeal to the press, this is far more important in the context of investments both sides have made in peace. The cost of things going out of sync was extremely great for both of us”.
He said India had conveyed its concerns on the incursions in Ladakh to the Chinese leadership through their envoy in Delhi and the military leadership of the two countries have held two rounds of talks to resolve the issue “which have not given us any sense of satisfaction”.
Sounding a word of caution, Khurshid said “I think the important thing is that both sides should know that this must remain an isolated incident. This should not spill over into a larger spectrum”.
Khurshid said the India and China have “assiduosly and carefully” put in place a mechanism to resolve border issues.
“We have worked very carefully towards it. We have a sense of satisfaction that it is good, it is sustainable and that it is the best thing we have. It should not be the only thing we have. I do not think we should, in a hurry, dismiss the value and expectation we have from this mechanism,” he said.
Insisting on talks through the existing mechanism, Khurshid said “this was not an issue where a Foreign Minister has to specially rush to Beijing”.
“We have our normal contacts. Things can be resolved long before I get to China,” he said.
Earlier, talking to reporters in Delhi, Khurshid had said that he would be visiting China on May 9.
Khurshid’s trip comes ahead of the visit by newly-elected Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to India later next month, his first abroad after becoming Prime Minister last month.
Noting that there was a working mechanism between the two countries to deal with such issues, Khurshid says that “Let us allow that mechanism to find its solution and repeatedly it has found. And we have good reasons to believe that it should be able to do it again.”
Earlier during his speech at FICCI in New Delhi, Khurshid said “disagreement” on any issue is not “betrayal”.
“People ask me what is wrong with India that all its neighbours are not its friends, what is wrong with India? And I tell them, you have an idea of friendship which is different from mine. My idea of friendship is when you are frank, free with each other, you have expectations and you deliver.
“You agree and you disagree, but you have constant faith that a disagreement is not betrayal. A disagreement is like two intelligent people working out life plans and not necessarily kicking the heels saying one is right and one is wrong,” he said.
Earlier this week, India had asked China to revert back to the status quo position in Depsang Valley in Ladakh.
Khurshid also said that these things happen because there is variance of perception between the two countries as there is no demarcation of the Line of Actual Control.
Terming predictions of doomsday following the current standoff in India-China relations as absurd, Khurshid said, “Somebody asked me is the standoff with China going to dilute your friendship, will it derail your relationship with China, will it mean you will not visit China, will it mean the premier of China will not visit India?”
“Doomsday predictions are absolutely absurd. It’s absurd not so much for China as it’s absurd for us. Our duty is to serve India, not to serve China. Chinese Foreign Minister’s duty is to serve China and I believe that we have a mutual interest but our concern is our interest and our interest is part of a mutual interest and that is what is very fortunate for us,” he said.
The minster underlined the fact that years of friendship should not be destroyed by “some little” thing going wrong.
“We shouldn’t destroy years of investment, years of contribution that we have made to this relationship because somewhere some little thing goes wrong. One little spot is acne which cannot force you to say that this is not a beautiful face.
“…That acne can be addressed by simply applying an ointment,” he said, adding this should not be considered as a surrender or admission of defeat.
“Ointment is part of the process of growing up just as acne is part of the process of growing up. And the relations between India and China is a relationship which is growing up. We had started off as children who fought over something they needed, demanded or believe were there’s. They have grown up into two beautiful adults who can talk about these things and who can find a solution,” he said.
Asked whether the current standoff will impact trade relations between the two countries, Khurshid said, “If your relationships deteriorate then your trade will get affected, so that is why we don’t want the relations to deteriorate when there are no reasons for relations to get deteriorated.”
Khurshid said the same school of thought is applicable to India’s smaller neighbours.
“I think the test of being friendly with our neighbours lies in the end result of the dialogue that takes place, not the fact that the dialogue becomes necessary.
“I think this is a good thing that we have dialogue. I think it’s a good thing that we know that there are periodic differences caused by forces within our domestic frame but which spills over into consequences in our international relations,” he said.
The Minister said that it is the end result what matters and what we are determined to do in the future.
“It is time for us to be optimistic with realism, it is time for us to drive our dreams forward and that is possible only when we understand what we are.
“If we are going to become and treat ourselves the size of Maldives when we have a dialogue with Maldives, if we treat ourselves as having the same economic constraints as Bangladesh has when we talk to Bangladesh and if we feel that we are in some way less when we talk to China because they have more nuclear bombs than we have, then we will not be doing our country the service that it expects from us,” he said.
Khurshid said India may be behind China in certain fields but that is because India chose a “different path” and New Delhi is ready to compete, participate and collaborate with Beijing.
“We are a large country and we are a successful country, in relative terms, larger and more successful than our neighbours. And I would say this even about China…
“Perhaps financially, perhaps in terms of development we are behind but we are behind because we chose a different path not because we have incapacity to compete with them. We will compete with them in many fields, we will participate and collaborate in many fields and we will continue to differ in many fields because that’s the very nature of humankind,” he said.
In Beijing, toning down its rhetoric on incursion, China today counselled patience saying favourable conditions should be created for the two countries to solve the issue through friendly consolations.
At separate media briefings, both the Chinese Foreign Ministry and the Defence Ministry maintained that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) had not intruded into India and had not caused any “provocation”.
Urging the media to be patient, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said, “We also believe that the two sides continue to solve the issue in a friendly manner and we will not let the issue affect border peace and security and normal development of China-India relations”.
“We hope relevant media can keep patience and create favourable conditions for the two countries to solve this issue through friendly consultations”, she said.
The Chinese Defence Ministry too refuted reports that it troops and aircraft trespassed the LAC.
Denying any violations, a Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said that media reports on Chinese border troops, military planes and helicopters crossing the line of actual control are “not true”.
Yang told the local media here that Chinese and Indian border troops are maintaining communications through existing channels to resolve the issue.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said, “I do not agree with your allegation that it is the Chinese side that has caused the provocation between the border troops”.
“China’s troops have never crossed the (LAC) line. China and India are neighbours and the boundary is not demarcated yet.
“It is inevitable for problems to prop up in border areas. When there is a problem it should be resolved through friendly consultations though existing mechanisms and channels”, she said.
“We believe this incident can also be handled and will not affect the peace and stability of the border areas as well as the normal development of China and India relations”, she said.
She was replying to questions about the intrusion of Chinese troops at the Depsang Valley in Ladakh. (PTI)
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