Snows in the high reaches along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between India and China ensuring a modicum of calm, the 14th round of talks at the level of corps commanders was held after a three-month hiatus on January 12, with India hoping for some forward movement in the delayed process of disengagement in the Depsang Bulge and Demchok in eastern Ladakh. Lt Gen Anindya Sengupta, who recently assumed command of the Leh-based 14th Corps, also known as the Fire and Fury Corps, led the Indian delegation for this Senior Highest Military Commander Level (SHMCL) meeting, a mechanism set up 21 months ago to resolve the standoff in eastern Ladakh. He met Maj Gen Yang Lin, the South Xinjiang Military District Chief heading the Chinese delegation. It was unclear whether this round of talks would be held until China confirmed the day before talks were tentatively scheduled that the meeting would indeed take place. Reactions or lack of reaction from both sides after the meeting indicated little headway had been made. Nirupama Rao, former Foreign Secretary and Ambassador to China, points out that the situation continues to be “tense, potentially kinetic and confrontational”. Rao, whose recent book ‘The Fractured Himalaya: India Tibet China 1949-1962’, provides vital insights into the psyche of the players involved in the region, says, “The status quo ante of June 2020 has been seriously disturbed, and there is every risk of conflict without disengagement and de-escalation. Both sides are seeking to define the LAC from their perspective–the Chinese even more so.”There have been other significant developments, negative from the Indian point of view, since the last military commanders’ meeting on October 10, 2021. With China allegedly building a bridge on the banks of the Pangong Tso Lake, tension is once again building up. Experts say the purpose of this new bridge is to ensure quicker military action by China by reducing the distance to the other side by about 125 kilometres. It is clear that India cannot afford to let its guard down, as it did when advanced patrols did not go out in Galwan because of the Covid pandemic in 2020, allowing the Chinese to come right up to the Indian posts and kill Indian soldiers in the skirmishes that followed. China, on October 23, 2021 passed a new law to protect its “sacred and inviolable” land borders. The law, which came into effect on January 1, outlines measures for the protection and exploitation of its land border areas and could have a definite bearing on China’s boundary dispute with India. The Chinese law says that the State shall take measures to strengthen border defence, support economic and social development in border areas, and improve public services and infrastructure in such areas.
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