After a long time, tranquility at the Line of Actual Control (the de facto border) between India and China has been disrupted with a standoff developing between the Indian Forces and China’s People's Liberation Army (PLA) personnel in Ladakh region.
India-China locked in stand-off in Ladakh #ITVideo pic.twitter.com/vq0mBZlVpS
— India Today (@IndiaToday) 3 ноября 2016 г.
Indian Government sources say the incident took place on Wednesday evening at Demchok sector when more than 50 Chinese troops tried to halt ongoing civil work in Indian territory. Chinese forces claimed work was taking place in a disputed area and, therefore, the local Indian authorities should have taken prior approval from the higher authorities of both sides. The stand-off continued for over 10 hours. “Chinese forces had returned to their side around midnight but they came back again in the morning,” said an Indian official.
This is the first incident of a major standoff at Demchok in more than two years. At that time, more than a dozen Chinese troops had entered into the Indian side of LAC and refused to leave the area for more than a week. The current incident took place after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spent the Diwali festival with Indian troops near the LAC. But statements from Beijing indicate its ire is directed at Verma’s visit.
China is also upset over the Indian Government’s plans to invite the exiled Tibetan leader Dalai Lama to a state function in the same border town that was visited by the US Ambassador.
Last month, the Indian government has patted itself on the back for fewer incidents of transgressions by the Chinese due to continuous dialogue and development work. About 170 transgression incidents were reported till September this year, a decline of 40 as compared with the same period last year. It seems New Delhi had not counted on new developments stoking tensions again.
