Chinese troops intrude 20km into Arunachal Pradesh

Now, Chinese troops intrude 20km into Arunachal Pradesh

JAK Rifles Halts PLA Patrol

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: China has done it again. People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops intruded over 20km into the Chaglagam sector of eastern Arunachal Pradesh, pitched tents there and finally withdrew after spending three to four days in the area last week. 

    This latest incursion seemed somewhat similar to the 21-day standoff between the rival armies in the Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) sector of eastern Ladakh after PLA troops had intruded 19-km into Depsang valley in April. 

    Importantly, defence ministry and Army on Wednesday downplayed the entire incident. “There was no standoff between the troops. Both armies patrol up to their perception of where the Line of Actual Control (LAC) lies. Long-range patrols, which can be of 10-12 days duration, from both sides carry tents to spend the nights at high altitude. There is nothing unusual in all this,’’ said an officer. 

    But sources said there was “a faceoff-like situation’’ in Chaglagam’s “fish tail’’ area, which is largely unmanned due to the inhospitable terrain and takes its name from the shape the LAC takes in the region, after the intrusion was reportedly detected by ITBP personnel on August 13. The Army rushed soldiers from the 9 JAK Rifles battalion to the area and stopped the PLA patrol from “ingressing any further’’, which included the use of “banner drills’’ to tell the Chinese soldiers that they had entered Indian territory. 

    The Army’s 2 Division deployed in the region even mounted a couple of helicopter reconnaissance sorties, with the deputy GoC (general-officercommanding) on board, but to no avail. Later, the PLA patrol left the area on its own. Both Indian and Chinese armies have been conducting “aggressive patrolling’’ along all the three sectors of the 4,057-km long LAC — western (Ladakh), middle (Uttarakhand, Himachal) and eastern (Sikkim, Arunachal) — to strengthen their claims to disputed territories. India has recorded well over 600 “transgressions’’ by PLA troops across the LAC in the last three years. Reports of the latest incursion in Arunachal emerged a day after the IAF landed a C-130J ‘Super Hercules’ aircraft at the DBO airstrip, which is just about 7 km from the LAC in eastern Ladakh, to convey a strategic message that it can swiftly rush troops and supplies to forward areas if required. 

    India and China are now close to inking the new Border Defence Cooperation Agreement (BDCA) that outlines several confidence-building measures to defuse faceoffs and tensions between rival troops along the LAC, as was earlier reported by TOI. 

    This includes additional BPM (border personnel meeting) set-ups to add to the existing ones at Chushul, Nathu La and Bum La as well as a DGMO-level hotline between the two armies like the one India has with Pakistan. Kibuthu, which is near the Chaglagam sector in Arunachal, is one such proposed BPM point that can kick in whenever there is a face-off between rival troops. 

    China is irked with belated Indian efforts to counter its massive build-up of military infrastructure all along the LAC. Under India’s overall plan, advanced landing grounds in both Ladakh and Arunachal have been re-activated after being neglected for over 30-40 years.

In the last three years, India has recorded 600 transgressions by PLA troops