China has 40,000 troops at LAC despite de-escalation promise: Report
New Delhi: China has not pulled back troops from all the areas that it had intruded into Ladakh near the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in May, government sources have told NDTV.
After several rounds of military talks, the Chinese have not held up their part in the disengagement process in eastern Ladakh, where 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a clash with the Chinese on June 15.
China’s troops are still present in the Depsang Plains region, Gogra and the Fingers region along the Pangong Lake where India and China had started a mutual disengagement by creating a buffer zone between both sides.
There has been disengagement in Galwan, Hot Springs and a part of the Fingers region along Pangong Lake. However, sources say there has been no movement in Gogra as expected or in the Depsang plains.
It also appears that the Chinese do not want to move east from Finger 5, which they illegally occupy, to Finger 8 – their traditional base in the contested area.
According to sources, the Chinese are reluctant to move out of the Finger 5 area and retreat as they want to create an observation post in the Finger area.
“The Chinese have not shown any signs of deescalation as they continue to maintain their heavy troop deployment of almost 40,000 troops supported by heavy weaponry like air defence systems, armoured personnel carriers and long-range artillery in front and depth areas,” news agency ANI quoted sources as saying.
The last round of military talks between the neighbours was on July 14-15 with both sides agreeing to mutually monitor the disengagement process. There has been no major progress since then.
The Chinese “are not honouring their commitment for disengagement at the friction points in Eastern Ladakh and not moving back as per the agreed terms during the multiple rounds of talks at the government and Army level and intervention at the senior level like the one done by the National Security Advisor couple of weeks ago would be required for further progress,” reported ANI quoting sources.
The Chinese have built structures in the Hot Springs and Gogra post region, two major friction points in eastern Ladakh.
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, during his interaction with the Chinese, had made it clear that both sides would have to move back to their permanent locations to defuse tensions.
With inputs from PTI
