#the galwan valley

[jasminewilson143]

India and China Agree on Disengagement and Patrolling Arrangements Along LAC: A Step Towards Border Stability

India and China Agree on Disengagement and Patrolling Arrangements Along LAC: A Step Towards Border Stability In a significant development in India-China relations, the two nations have reached an agreement to disengage their troops and establish new patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). This decision, announced by India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, marks a crucial…

[merisarkar]

India-China Agree to Disengage at Ladakh Border: MEA

India-China Agree to Disengage Troops in Ladakh: In a significant step towards easing tensions along their disputed Himalayan border, India Monday announced on that it has reached a mutual agreement with China to disengage their troops from several friction points in the Ladakh region. The decision, based on a statement made by India’s External Affairs Secretary, Vikram Misri, marks a crucial…

[kimskashmir]

Two incidents of skirmishes between Indian, Chinese troops along LAC come to light

NEW DELHI — At least two previously unknown incidents of skirmishes between the Indian and Chinese troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) have come to light with citations for gallantry awards conferred on Indian Army personnel mentioning them. The citations, read out at an investiture ceremony by the Army’s Western Command last week, provided brief details of how the Indian troops…

[kashmirmonitor]

Galwan hero's wife becomes Army officer, posted in Ladakh

New Delhi :Rekha Singh, wife of Naik Deepak Singh who was killed in the Galwan Valley clashes in 2020, has been commissioned into the Indian Army as a Lieutenant, officials said on Saturday.She has been posted to a frontline base along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, they said Lt Singh on Saturday completed her one-year training at the Chennai-based Officers Training Academy…

[collapsedsquid]

Just found someone referring to a new “wolf’s fang“ mace that China is now developing, seems like we’ve got a full on arms race going on where they can’t use firearms

[beardedmrbean]

India says it has lodged a "strong protest" with China over a new map that lays claim to its territory.

Indian media have reported that the map shows the north-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh and the disputed Aksai Chin plateau as China's territory.

It was released by China's ministry of natural resources on Monday.

"We reject these claims as they have no basis," India's foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.

He added that such steps by China "only complicate the resolution of the boundary question".

Beijing has not officially responded yet.

India's Foreign Minister S Jaishankar also called China's claim "absurd".

"China has even in the past put out maps which claim the territories which are not China's, which belong to other countries. This is an old habit of theirs," he told TV channel NDTV on Tuesday.

India's protest comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke on the sidelines of the Brics summit in South Africa. An Indian official said afterwards that the two countries had agreed to "intensify efforts at expeditious disengagement and de-escalation" along the disputed border.

Shadow of 60-year-old war at India-China flashpoint

The Indian monastery town coveted by China

India has often reacted angrily to China's attempts to stake claim to its territory.

The source of the tension between the neighbours is a disputed 3,440km (2,100 mile)-long de facto border along the Himalayas - called the Line of Actual Control, or LAC - which is poorly demarcated. The presence of rivers, lakes and snowcaps means the line can shift in places.

Soldiers on either side come face to face at many points, which can spark tensions - the last time being in December when Indian and Chinese troops clashed along the border in the town of Tawang.

China says it considers the whole of Arunachal Pradesh its territory, calling it "South Tibet" - a claim India firmly rejects. India claims the Aksai Chin plateau in the Himalayas, which is controlled by China.

In April, Delhi reacted sharply to China's attempts to rename 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh, saying the state would always be "an "integral and inalienable part of India".

Relations between India and China have worsened since 2020, when their troops were involved in a deadly clash at the Galwan valley in Ladakh - it was the first fatal confrontation between the two sides since 1975.

[mariacallous]

During the recent G-20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi got up from the banquet table to shake hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping and have a brief conversation—their first in-person exchange in three years. Although both sides remain tight-lipped about the interaction, it nonetheless raised hopes among observers of a breakthrough in their 30-month border crisis, which began with a deadly clash in Ladakh in 2020. But any resolution that might emerge will not dispel the challenge posed by massive changes at the border undertaken by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

This marks the third straight winter that around 50,000 Indian reinforcements will spend in Ladakh’s inhospitable terrain in the northern Himalayas, warding off an equal number of Chinese troops stationed a few miles away. Despite intermittent dialogue between the two militaries, Indian Army Chief Gen. Manoj Pande recently confirmed that China has not reduced its forces at the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Chinese infrastructure construction along the border is “going on unabated,” he said—confirmed by independent satellite imagery and echoed by the latest U.S. Defense Department report on China. Pande said the situation is “stable but unpredictable.” That unpredictability has become structural.

India and China have so far held 16 rounds of border talks between senior military commanders as well as numerous diplomatic and political engagements, but an agreement on actions to reduce the tensions in Ladakh has been slow to materialize. Of the seven areas in Ladakh where Indian and Chinese soldiers have faced one another since 2020, two have seen no change while the rest have seen each side take a limited step back. The challenge for India is becoming more concerning on the eastern part of the LAC—between the state of Arunachal Pradesh and Tibet—where China has an infrastructure and military advantage, putting New Delhi on the defensive.

The widening power gap between India and China—military, technological, economic, and diplomatic—now constrains New Delhi’s options on the border. It also raises tough questions for India’s geopolitical partnerships, such as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (known as the Quad), and its aggressive approach toward Pakistan. The border crisis will hang over India’s decision-making for the foreseeable future.

In October, the Chinese Communist Party held its 20th National Congress, and Xi assumed an unprecedented third term as leader. Among the images broadcasted at the Great Hall of the People minutes before Xi ascended the stage was a video from the Galwan Valley in Ladakh, where at least 20 Indian soldiers and 4 PLA soldiers died in a clash in June 2020. The videos showed PLA regiment commander Qi Fabao standing with his arms outstretched to stop Indian soldiers from advancing. Qi was selected to be a delegate to the Party Congress, underlining the importance of the border crisis to the Chinese Communist Party’s narrative. Harnessing nationalism, the party wants to convey that it will protect what it considers Chinese territory at all costs.

India’s military and political leaders now confront a reality at the border that should have jolted them into serious action: China has a distinct advantage over India, which it has consolidated since 2020. By investing in a long-term military presence in one of the most remote places on Earth, the PLA has considerably reduced the time it would need to launch a military operation against India. New military garrisons, roads, and bridges would allow for rapid deployment and make clear that Beijing is not considering a broader retreat. The Indian military has responded by diverting certain forces intended for the border with Pakistan toward its disputed border with China. It has deployed additional ground forces to prevent further PLA ingress in Ladakh and constructed supporting infrastructure. Meanwhile, New Delhi’s political leadership is conspicuous in its silence, projecting a sense of normalcy.

Beijing refuses to discuss two of the areas in Ladakh, where its forces have blocked Indian patrols since 2020. In five other areas, Chinese troops have stepped back by a few miles but asked India to do the same and create a no-patrolling zone. This move denies India its right to patrol areas as planned before the border crisis began. The PLA has flatly refused to discuss de-escalation, in which both armies would pull back by a substantive distance. The question of each side withdrawing its additional troops from Ladakh is not even on the agenda. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson rejected any demand to restore the situation along the LAC as it existed before May 2020. The PLA continues to downplay the severity of the situation, instead emphasizing stability in its ties with India.

If the situation in Ladakh is “stable but unpredictable,” Indian military leaders have told Foreign Policy that major stretches of the LAC’s eastern sector—2,500 kilometers (or 1,553 miles) away—are an even bigger cause of concern. In 1962, this area was the site of a humiliating defeat of the Indian Army at the hands of the PLA. Today, massive Chinese infrastructure development and troop buildup closer to the LAC has placed India at a military disadvantage. In September, Pande said when it comes to infrastructure in the area, “there is lots to be desired to be done.” Recent reports suggest at least three additional PLA brigades remain deployed in the area even after the Party Congress, further worrying Indian military planners.

China officially claims the entire state of Arunachal Pradesh, which includes the Tawang Monastery where the sixth Dalai Lama was born in 1683. Tawang was historically a part of Tibet; Chinese officials, such as Dai Bingguo, who served as China’s boundary negotiator with India from 2003 to 2013, have publicly stated that it would be nonnegotiable in a permanent settlement of the disputed border. As questions arise over the succession of the current Dalai Lama, who is 87 years old, Chinese sensitivities about Tawang will intensify—even more so when linked to its internal security problems in Tibet. In the coming years, it is likely to become a higher priority for China.

Still, it is in Ladakh that the Chinese have built up infrastructure at a frenetic pace, with only military operations in mind: roads, bridges, airfields, heliports, accommodations for troops, and storage and communication infrastructure. Pande noted that one of the biggest developments is the G695 highway, which runs parallel to the LAC and gives the PLA the ability to quickly move from one valley to another. Flatter terrain on the Chinese side already gives Beijing an advantage, now further bolstered by infrastructure—an extensive network of new roads, bridges, and heliports.

In the 1960s, the PLA needed one full summer season to mobilize and launch military operations in Ladakh for the next summer. Now, it would need a couple of weeks to undertake the same operation. Indian military planners must live with this scenario, even if the current border crisis is resolved.

Modi approaching Xi in Bali recalled a short exchange between the two leaders on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, in 2017. Then, their conversation sparked diplomatic communications between New Delhi and Beijing that aimed to resolve a standoff between Indian and Chinese troops at Doklam in Bhutan, which China claims as its territory. The talks led to disengagement, but the Chinese only stepped back a few hundred yards. They have since consolidated their military deployment and undertaken massive infrastructure development in Doklam, such as roads, helipads, and a military garrison. Even if an immediate crisis was averted, the status quo was permanently altered in China’s favor in Doklam.

A similar resolution of the Ladakh border crisis would carry bigger risks for India. Unlike in Doklam, China has entered areas in Ladakh that Indian troops regularly patrolled until 2020. Reinforcing the LAC over the vast span of Ladakh would require enhanced deployment of Indian ground forces. This permanent instability would put the Indian military under further pressure. With an already limited defense budget—China’s is more than four times as large—shifting more troops to the border would also divert resources from the Indian Navy, where multilateral cooperation with Quad partners to contest China’s influence in the Indian Ocean region is an absolute imperative.

Fearing escalation, India is forsaking even limited offensive options, such as launching a quid pro quo military operation to capture some territory in Tibet to arrive at the negotiating table with a strong hand. New Delhi’s defensive position instead seems to acknowledge its widening gap with Beijing; due to this power differential, it is unable to even use economic or diplomatic instruments to target China. After all, India’s bilateral trade with China—its biggest trading partner—reached record levels this year, with an all-time high trade deficit in Beijing’s favor. The U.S. Defense Department report on China reveals that Beijing has warned U.S. officials not to interfere with its relationship with New Delhi; Kenneth Juster, a former U.S. ambassador to India, said New Delhi doesn’t want Washington to mention Beijing’s border aggression.

India’s defensive posture plays out in its approach to diplomatic engagement and security cooperation. Unlike its Quad partners, India abstained from voting against China on the Xinjiang issue at the United Nations Human Rights Council meeting in October, and its comments on China’s crackdown in Hong Kong or aggression toward Taiwan have been guarded. Modi participated in both the BRICS summit and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit this year, along with Xi; Chinese delegations are still regularly invited to New Delhi for multilateral events. And an Indian military contingent participated with a PLA contingent in a military exercise in Russia this year.

The current situation along the LAC, both in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh, as well as China’s refusal to discuss issues on India’s agenda for resolving the crisis have added to the structural instability in their relationship. Chinese infrastructure development and the widening gap in power means that this instability will become permanent, even with a solution to the immediate crisis. India’s military will remain under pressure and on guard. Pande made this implicit when discussing future Indian plans on the border in November. “We need to very carefully calibrate our actions on the LAC [so as] to be able to safeguard both our interests and sensitivities … and be prepared to deal with all types of contingencies,” he said.

The risk of an accidental military escalation between Asia’s most populous countries—both nuclear powers—has increased significantly since 2020. This will continue unless Modi and Xi find a new modus vivendi. Establishing guardrails in the relationship will require political imagination and an honest appraisal of relative strengths; failing that, New Delhi faces tough geopolitical choices. It has so far eschewed any security-centric step with the Quad that could provoke Beijing, but murmurs from its partners about reticent Indian policy are bound to get louder. Meanwhile, India’s reliance on Russia for military equipment and ammunition now falls under a cloud of suspicion. And an unstable border with China prevents India from targeting Pakistan, a tactic that has proved politically rewarding for Modi.

The fundamentals of Indian foreign policy that have held steady since the years of former Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru—namely, strategic autonomy and ensuring territorial integrity and sovereignty—will come under greater stress as the border crisis looms over New Delhi. Modi boasts of great ambitions for India as a “Vishwa Guru,” or master to the world—a euphemism for a global superpower. But questions raised by the situation at the border with China continue to limit him.

[news365timesindia]

[ad_1] Defence Minister Rajnath Singh engaged in bilateral talks with his Chinese counterpart Dong Jun on Wednesday in Vientiane, Laos, during the 11th ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus (ADMM Plus). #WATCH | Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held a bilateral meeting with Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun, in Vientiane, Lao PDR. pic.twitter.com/ZbyusUrGKu — NewsMobile (@NewsMobileIndia) November 20, 2024 This meeting comes at a significant time, following the recent agreement between India and China to resolve the border standoff by repositioning their troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) to pre-2020 positions. This move follows the violent clashes in Galwan Valley in 2020, which had worsened relations between the two countries. The discussions between Singh and Dong Jun are considered vital, as they are expected to focus on advancing the peace process along the LAC. This meeting follows similar high-level talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping during the BRICS summit in late October. Both leaders had discussed improving bilateral relations, and the Defence Minister’s dialogue is seen as a continuation of these efforts. A significant outcome from recent military engagements was the agreement for coordinated patrols in Demchok and Depsang areas of Eastern Ladakh, marking a crucial step towards de-escalation. In line with the agreement, Indian and Chinese forces will take turns conducting weekly patrols in these regions. The first round of these joint patrols was completed in early November. Click here for Latest Fact Checked News On NewsMobile WhatsApp Channel For viral videos and Latest trends subscribe to NewsMobile YouTube Channel and Follow us on Instagram [ad_2] Source link

[news365times]

[ad_1] Defence Minister Rajnath Singh engaged in bilateral talks with his Chinese counterpart Dong Jun on Wednesday in Vientiane, Laos, during the 11th ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus (ADMM Plus). #WATCH | Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held a bilateral meeting with Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun, in Vientiane, Lao PDR. pic.twitter.com/ZbyusUrGKu — NewsMobile (@NewsMobileIndia) November 20, 2024 This meeting comes at a significant time, following the recent agreement between India and China to resolve the border standoff by repositioning their troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) to pre-2020 positions. This move follows the violent clashes in Galwan Valley in 2020, which had worsened relations between the two countries. The discussions between Singh and Dong Jun are considered vital, as they are expected to focus on advancing the peace process along the LAC. This meeting follows similar high-level talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping during the BRICS summit in late October. Both leaders had discussed improving bilateral relations, and the Defence Minister’s dialogue is seen as a continuation of these efforts. A significant outcome from recent military engagements was the agreement for coordinated patrols in Demchok and Depsang areas of Eastern Ladakh, marking a crucial step towards de-escalation. In line with the agreement, Indian and Chinese forces will take turns conducting weekly patrols in these regions. The first round of these joint patrols was completed in early November. Click here for Latest Fact Checked News On NewsMobile WhatsApp Channel For viral videos and Latest trends subscribe to NewsMobile YouTube Channel and Follow us on Instagram [ad_2] Source link

[darkmaga-returns]

Ted Snider

Nov 6, 2024

The United States’ struggle to preserve the unipolar world slipped another step back when India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi met the People’s Republic of China’s President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the 2024 BRICS summit.

India and China’s already strained relationship strained even more in 2020 when 20 Indian troops and four Chinese troops were killed in hand-to-hand combat along their disputed border in the Galwan Valley of the Western Himalayas.

The U.S. has long exploited the animosity between the world’s two largest countries, using India as a counterbalance to China, containing the PRC and driving a wedge between it and the Global South.

In America’s geopolitical battle to maintain a U.S.-led unipolar world over a multipolar system preferred by Russia and China, India is the giant with one foot in each world. The world’s second-largest nation’s choice of sides will determine whether the unipolar world survives or evolution favors multipolarity.

But what the U.S. struggles to see—to the detriment of its own foreign policy and its own self-interest—is that India, and much of the Global South, no longer sees itself as having to make a choice between blocs. The choice of a multipolar world means not having to choose sides. In his book, The India Way, India’s foreign minister, S. Jaishankar, explains that multipolarity means that countries can deal “with contesting parties at the same time with optimal results” for their “own self-interest.” 

[the100th-monkey]

Today's News 26th October 2024

The US Was Inadvertently Responsible For The Sino-Indo Border De-Escalation Deal The US Was Inadvertently Responsible For The Sino-Indo Border De-Escalation Deal Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack, India announced earlier this week that it and China agreed to patrol their disputed border area in the way that it was before June 2020’s lethal Galwan River Valley clashes. This was made…

[jobaaj]

🚨𝐁𝐢𝐠 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚-𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬🚨 𝐋𝐀𝐂 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥??😮 🤔 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝?! ✨ There's been a 𝑚𝑎𝑗𝑜𝑟 shift in Indo-Chinese relations! ✨ 📍 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥 (𝐋𝐀𝐂) 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞! 🕊️ 💬 According to the latest statement from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), 🇮🇳 & 🇨🇳 have 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 on new 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 along the LAC after extensive negotiations! 🤝✨ 🧐𝐖𝐡𝐲? - To resolve a 4-year-long border dispute. - The standoff began in 2020 when skirmishes on Pangong Lake and Galwan Valley between troops resulted in casualties on both sides. - That spiked regional tensions and worsened ties between both countries for over 4 years! - According to EAM Jaishankar, India and China have completed the disengagement process and the situation has now returned to what it was before May 2020!! 😲𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐲: - Experts believe India should be careful. - China has yet to release its statement and considering its imperialistic and land-grabbing habits, India must stay vigilant. - While some progress has been made in Eastern Ladakh, the situation in Arunachal Pradesh remains dire. ❓𝑾𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕? Follow Jobaaj Stories (the media arm of Jobaaj.com Group for more)

For more updates and insightful stories like this one, follow Jobaaj Stories, the media arm of the Jobaaj Group. We’re dedicated to informing, educating, and inspiring young professionals and students with stories that truly matter. 🌟

[todayworldnews2k21]

Can India trust China amid talks over disengagement along LAC? What experts say

In a major diplomatic breakthrough, the government on Monday announced that India and China have reached an agreement to resume patrolling at the remaining friction points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, where tensions have persisted since the Galwan Valley clash in 2020. In a press briefing, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said the agreement marks a significant step…

[buzz-london]

Chance of peace between India and China - September 14, 2024 Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning has said that Chinese troops have withdrawn from four areas in Eastern Ladakh including the Galwan Valley

[ebelal56-blog]

Neighbor victimization: India's revealed secrets

Have you ever thought about how complex India’s relationships with its neighbors really are? It’s like a tangled web of history, politics, and strategy. Take the border disputes, for instance. With China, it’s been a long-standing issue, especially in the Himalayas. Remember the Galwan Valley clash in 2020? That really escalated things. And then there’s Pakistan and Kashmir—since 1947, it’s been a rollercoaster of wars and skirmishes. Now, let’s talk about India’s growing influence. While it’s great to see India taking the lead in South Asia, it can sometimes rub neighbors the wrong way. Countries like Nepal and Sri Lanka feel like they’re caught in the middle of a power play, especially with China’s Belt and Road Initiative competing for attention. Building dams over international rivers and not sharing with Bangladesh. And don’t get me started on the strategic alliances with Western powers. They can seem more like a containment strategy than a partnership. All of this creates a perception that India is making more enemies than friends. It’s a delicate balance, and one misstep could tip the scales

[werindialive]

Chinese mouthpiece lauds India, says ‘India a major power, strategically confident’

Highlighting the achievements of New Delhi in the past 4 years, Chinese news daily Global Times on Tuesday released an entire article. Penned by Shanghai's Fudan University scholar the article called India ‘more strategically confident’ and ‘proactive’ in developing a ‘Bharat narrative’.

Further praising the economic, social, governance, and foreign policy development under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, the article talked about the ongoing tension between the two nations since the 2020 Galwan Valley clashes.

As per PTI reports, the article written by the director of the Center for South Asian Studies at Shanghai's Fudan University Mr. Zhang Jiadong talks about the achievements of India in the recent past.

“India is indeed a major power, and rapid changes in internal and external strategies pose challenges to both itself and the international community. It appears that a transformed, stronger, and more assertive India has become a new geopolitical factor that many countries need to consider," Jiadong said in his article.

The article highlights how India used to focus on the measures taken by Beijing to reduce trade imbalance but now its focus has shifted to increasing its export potential. It also talked about India's shift from focusing on its democratic consensus with the Western world to highlighting the ‘Indian feature’ of democratic politics.

"Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed power, he has advocated for a multi-alignment strategy, promoting India's relations with the US, Japan, Russia and other countries and regional organizations," the article stated.

For more international news India in Hindi subscribe to our newsletter.