Flareup, threats at China border meet

New Delhi: China’s People’s Liberation Army followed up its belligerent aggression in Doka La near Sikkim and the Pangong Lake in Ladakh with furious words during the border personnel meet (BPM) held at the 14,000-ft Spanngur Gap near Chushul in Ladakh on Wednesday.

Flared tempers, angry words and walkout threats marked the meeting called at the Indian Army’s instance, a source told this newspaper.

Amid these moves, Army Chief Gen. Bipin Rawat will embark on a three-day official visit to Ladakh to take stock of the evolving situation. While part of Gen. Rawat’s visit is for ceremonial reasons, when he will present colours to an Army unit, operational reasons will be dominant in the chief’s agenda.

At the border meet, it is learnt the livid Chinese PLA delegation even threatened to walk out and was also angry at the news of the scuffle in Pangong Tso having found its way into the Indian media, asking their Indian counterparts how it had got leaked.

While the PLA accused Indian forces of ramping up its strength along the border, the Indian side countered it by saying it was in fact the PLA that had been violating the laid-down guidelines.

When the Indian side questioned the unusual vehicle movement by the PLA near the disputed zone, the PLA said it was for administrative reasons and for dumping of winter stocking. “Their (Chinese) language was very aggressive. As a result, the talks remained inconclusive and no progress was achieved to further the confidence-building agenda,” the source added.

According to defence officials this newspaper spoke to, the PLA is usually very aggressive at BPMs in Ladakh, unlike such meetings in the eastern sector in Arunachal Pradesh. “It may be due to the proximity of the Ladakh area to the sensitive Western Highway,” the source said.

The BPM, called by the Indian Army, was led by a senior PLA colonel on the Chinese side while the Indian side was led by a brigadier.

The meeting took place in the backdrop of an incident of fisticuffs and stone-pelting between Indian and Chinese troops on the northern bank of Pangong Lake Tuesday, where two soldiers each from both sides were injured. Tensions between India and China have peaked amid a war of words over the two-month-long standoff between the Indian and Chinese armies at Doka La, near the trijunction separating India’s Sikkim, China and Bhutan.

Sources told this newspaper the PLA soldiers used steel rods in the scuffle at Pangong Tso, which were snatched away by the Indians. With the India-China border is not clearly demarcated in many areas, BPMs are a mechanism to defuse unwanted tensions over frequent transgressions. Local commanders of the two armies meet at five points along the border at Daulat Beg Oldie (Ladakh), Spanngur Gap (Ladakh), Bum-La (Arunachal Pradesh), Nathu-La (Sikkim) and Kibithu (Arunachal Pradesh).