Much like the Gonkard area, the Despang plain is an area which was trespassed on is also possibly being scouted and surveyed as a possible PLAA airfield. It would give them first-strike capability over India and put them further into submission. It’s a very high altitude location which would be hard to strike for most planes. With both India and China in dispute over a ‘grey area’ of territory both claim to own, China has been posturing and leveraging its aggressiveness towards its neighbor because it smells weakness in India which is showing it doesn’t know how to handle the situation.
New Delhi/Leh, Aug 19: Set aside the positive bilateral relations between China and India, the Chinese troops have started infiltrating in the Indian territory yet again. This time they have entered 25 to 30 km deep into Indian territory in Burtse area of North Ladakh, officials sources said.
This is the very place where they had established their tents last year, which led to a tense 3-week stand-off.
The Chinese troops were first noticed by a patrol of Indian troops on when the latter were moving from their base towards the higher ‘New Patrol base’ post in Burtse, which is at an altitude of 17,000 feet.
Going 1.5 km further from their base, the Indian troops spotted the Chinese personnel 25-30 kilometers inside the Line of Actual Control. Complying to the newly-drafted Standard Operating Procedures, the Indian troops returned to their base.
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Denying any such incident was Udhampur-based Army Spokesperson Col S D Goswami who said,”There are areas along the border where India and China have differing perception of LAC. Due to both sides undertaking patrolling up to their respective perception of the LAC, transgressions do occur. However, no incursion or encroachment of Indian Territory by China has taken place along the India-China border.”
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However, satellite imagery show that tents may have been built in that area as they did last year so that they moved deeper into the Indian territory. The Chinese, on the other hand are claiming that the Depsang plain is part of their territory as it gives them a tactical advantage over the area including the air field which was operationalised by the Indian Air Force last year for a short while.
Full article: Chinese Troops now claim Ladakh; Enter 25 km into Indian Territory (OneIndia)
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