PM chairs high level meet
Will go ahead with infra development along LAC: India
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a high-level meeting to discuss the ongoing stand-off with China, sources said.
Those attending include the three service chiefs, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and the Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat.
A separate meeting was held earlier with the foreign secretary. Sources said prior to the meeting with PM Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had met three service chiefs and briefed them.
The flurry of meetings comes at a time when Chinese and Indian troops have been skirmishing in Sikkim and Ladakh.
Satellite pictures have shown that Beijing is expanding an airbase near Ladakh. Close shots have even revealed fighter jets on the tarmac. Yesterday, China in a notice on its embassy website, offered to fly back its citizens who wanted to return home.
Meanwhile, India will not stop infrastructure development projects in strategic areas along the nearly 3,500-km Sino-India border, notwithstanding China’s well-coordinated efforts to stall them by attempting to vitiate the situation in areas like eastern Ladakh, government sources said.
It is learnt that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has conveyed to top military brass that there was no need for reviewing the implementation of any of the key projects along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand or in Arunachal Pradesh in view of the aggressive behaviour by Chinese troops in several sensitive areas.
In view of the nearly 20-day standoff between the two sides, the Indian Army has significantly ramped up its presence in sensitive border areas in North Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh besides Ladakh to send across a message that India will not be wilting under any aggressive military posturing by China, the sources said.
They said Army Chief Gen MM Naravane has been briefing the defence minister about the fast evolving situation in eastern Ladakh on almost daily basis and it has been decided to put up a stiff counter to China’s transgressions into Indian areas along the LAC, the de-facto boundary between the two countries.
The Chinese side has been particularly peeved at India laying a key road in the finger area of Pangong Tso Lake region besides another road connecting the Darbuk-Shayok-Daulat Beg Oldie road in Galwan Valley.
Singh on Tuesday held a meeting with three service chiefs on the implementation of a wide range of reform measures in the armed forces. It is not immediately clear whether the situation in eastern Ladakh figured in the deliberations.
In the last five years, India has been focusing on improving road and other key infrastructure along the LAC as part of efforts to bolster military preparedness to deal with any challenge from the Chinese side.
At a media briefing, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava also strongly refuted China’s contention that the tension was triggered due to trespassing by Indian forces on the Chinese side.
India’s response came two days after China accused the Indian Army of trespassing into its territory, claiming that it was an “attempt to unilaterally change the status” of the LAC in Sikkim and Ladakh.
On May 5, the Indian and Chinese army personnel clashed with iron rods, sticks, and even resorted to stone-pelting in the Pangong Tso lake area in which soldiers on both sides sustained injuries.
In a separate incident, nearly 150 Indian and Chinese military personnel were engaged in a face-off near Naku La Pass in the Sikkim sector on May 9. At least 10 soldiers from both sides sustained injuries.
The troops of India and China were engaged in a 73-day stand-off in Doklam tri-junction in 2017 which even triggered fears of a war between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488-km-long LAC. China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of southern Tibet while India contests it.
Both sides have been asserting that pending the final resolution of the boundary issue, it is necessary to maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their first informal summit in April 2018 in the Chinese city of Wuhan, months after the Doklam standoff.
In the summit, the two leaders decided to issue “strategic guidance” to their militaries to strengthen communications so that they can build trust and understanding.
Modi and Xi held their second informal summit in Mamallapuram near Chennai in October last year with a focus on further broadening bilateral ties. (with inputs from PTI)
