AMP Report June 6, 2020
Chinese, Indian generals meeting fails to defuse border standoff
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Chinese and Indian generals meeting Saturday (June 6) failed to end the latest border standoff between the world's two most populous nuclear nations that has seen thousands of troops sent to both sides of the disputed border.
The talks were requested by India and were held at the Border Personnel Meeting Point in Maldo on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh.
Lieutenant General Harinder Singh, Commander of the Leh-based 14 Corps, led the Indian delegation to the meeting while Chinese side was represented by Major General Liu Lin, Commander of the South Xinjiang military region.
While the outcome was not known, the talks were not believed to lead to any major breakthrough but only set the stage for further talks The Hindu said.
According to the Times of India, neither the Army nor the Ministry of External Affairs provided any details about the much-anticipated talks. Without specifically mentioning about the talks, an Indian Army Spokesperson said: "Indian and Chinese officials continue to remain engaged through the established military and diplomatic channels to address the current situation in the India-China border areas."
The Times of India quoted military sources as saying that India was not expecting any "concrete outcome" from the meeting, but considers it important as the high-level military dialogue could pave the way for a negotiated settlement of the tense standoff.
Before the talks began, the Army issued an advisory to the media that both sides remained engaged through established military and diplomatic channels “to address the current situation in the India-China border areas” and speculation would not be helpful, The Hindu reported. “At this stage, therefore, any speculative and unsubstantiated reporting about these engagements would not be helpful and the media is advised to refrain from such reporting,” the Army advisory said.
Since the tension began, both Armies have held 12 dialogues at various levels, including three meetings at the level of Major-General.
The stand-off in eastern Ladakh is in at least five key areas where India and China have had traditional differences on the perception of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the region. The present tension between the two sides came into sharp focus when reports of skirmishes between the soldiers of both sides were reported in the Pangong Lake region on May 5 and May 6.
According to Business Standard, starting in the third week of April, more than 5,000 Chinese soldiers of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) have intruded into five points in Ladakh - four along the Galwan River, and one near the Pangong Lake, the paper reported on Saturday, May 23.
India’s major demand is the restoration of status quo before May, as beginning early May Chinese troops moved in large numbers into Indian territory at Pangong Tso, Galwan and Gogra in eastern Ladakh, and de-induction of troops by China.
Another concern is Chinese build-up at Finger 4 of Pangong Tso up to where India has always held territory, while it claims areas as far as Finger 8. In addition, China moved armor and artillery close to the Line of Actual Control on its side, a measure which India says is against the boundary agreements.
Tellingly, China and India do not agree on how long their border is. India gives a figure of 3,488 kilometres (2,167 miles). China does not give a number, but state media says the border should be just 2,000km (1,250 miles) when China's claims in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh and other regions are taken into account.
The Ladakh stand-off is the most serious since India and China, who fought a brief war in 1962, were locked in a similar faceoff in Doklam, in the eastern Himalayas, that lasted nearly three months in 2017, according to NDTV.
High altitude face-offs have become more frequent in recent years. There have been four since President Xi Jinping took power in 2012.
The US administration has said this is a new sign of China's growing military assertiveness.
According to Ashley Tellis, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Beijing's concerns "appear to have grown since the August 2019 Indian decision to make Ladakh" a federally-administered territory.
India's Hindu rightist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi annexed the disputed Jammu & Kashmir on August 5, 2019, heightening tensions with its nuclear-armed neighbors China and Pakistan.
Carnegie's Tellis believes the latest Chinese advancement in the Ladakh region leave India only with "painful" choices.
"Beijing has moved into disputed territories that did not host a continual Chinese presence as recently as January 2020," Tellis wrote.
In the midst of the tension, China has appointed a new commander to oversee the People’s Liberation Army’s Ground Forces along the India border. On June 1, it was announced that Lt. Gen. Xu Qiling was appointed as the new commander of the PLA Western Theater Command Ground Force. He will report to General Zhao Zongqi, commander of China’s Western Theater Command.
Abdus Sattar Ghazali is the Chief Editor of the Journal of America (www.journalofamerica.net) email: asghazali2011 (@) gmail.com
The Journal of America Team:
Editor in chief:
Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Senior Editor:
Prof. Arthur Scott
Special Correspondent
Maryam Turab
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