VIDEO: PLA Conducts Military Exercise Over Pangong Lake as India-China Border Talks End in Stalemate

© Photo : Chinese Ministry of National DefensePLA's 77th Group Army brigade carrying out live-fire drills in this image, dated 3 July
PLA's 77th Group Army brigade carrying out live-fire drills in this image, dated 3 July - Sputnik International, 1920, 19.07.2022
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Delhi and Beijing reached an agreement in February 2021 to disengage troops from the 135-km Pangong Lake, creating buffer zones until all outstanding border issues are resolved. Over 50,000 soldiers have been stationed since 2020 at forward posts along the LAC with advanced weapons to prevent a change in the status quo.
China’s People’s Liberation Army has carried out a military exercise with attack helicopters over the contentious Pangong Lake, a video telecasted by the state media network CCTV shows.
The 33-second video was released hours after the two countries concluded the 16th Corps Commander level talks on Sunday with no immediate progress on the “outstanding issues” in Eastern Ladakh.
The video shows the army aviation brigade attached to the PLA Xinjiang Military Command carrying out an exercise over the world’s highest saltwater lake, Pangong lake, at an altitude of almost 4,350 metres.
China’s state media reported that Z-10 attack helicopters joined the drills for the first time, unlike the post when only transport helicopters carried border defense troops for patrol missions.
Monday evening, Delhi and Beijing issued a joint statement, saying both sides had agreed to maintain the “security and stability” on the ground in the Western Sector along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) — a loosely demarcated boundary separating two Asian giants.
“The two sides agreed to stay in close contact and maintain dialogue through military and diplomatic channels and work out a mutually acceptable resolution of the remaining issues at the earliest,” the statement added.

Sources in New Delhi told Sputnik that China wants to deal with the issue of Hot Springs or Patrolling Point-15 separately from the other friction areas of Demchok and Depsang, which is unacceptable to India.

India reportedly suggested a “comprehensive disengagement and de-escalation” to end the tensions.

Two days prior to the 16th Corps Commander level talks, China’s President Xi Jinping “fully affirmed the outstanding contributions made by troops stationed in Xinjiang to strengthen border defense and stabilize Xinjiang”.

It was a rare meeting of Xi Jinping, who visited the region after eight long years, with troops, including the Galwan Valley regiment commander Qi Fabao, involved in the ongoing border stand-off with India in Eastern Ladakh.
Twenty Indian soldiers and four PLA troops were killed in the June 15, 2020 clash that marked the first casualties in the border clash since 1975.
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