NEW DELHI (Portal) – A security assessment by Indian police in the Himalayan region of Ladakh says there could be further clashes between Indian and Chinese forces along their contested border there as Beijing ramps up military infrastructure in the region.
At least 24 soldiers were killed when the armies of the Asian giants clashed in Ladakh in the western Himalayas in 2020, but tensions eased after military and diplomatic talks. In December, the two sides clashed again in the eastern Himalayas, but there were no casualties.
The assessment is part of a new, confidential research paper from the Ladakh Police Force presented at a senior police officials conference on January 20-22 and reviewed by Portal.
The Indian army did not respond to a request for comment and China’s foreign ministry said the situation along the border is generally stable at this time.
According to the report, the assessment was based on information gathered by local police in the border areas and on the pattern of military tensions between India and China over the years.
The assessment gains importance as it was presented at the New Delhi conference attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. India’s defense and foreign ministries also did not respond to requests for comment.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman’s Office said Saturday China maintains close communication and dialogue through diplomatic and military channels with India.
“Aksai Chin is an inseparable part of China’s territory,” the ministry said, referring to a disputed region lying at the crossroads of China’s Xinjiang and Tibet and east of Ladakh in India.
Since the start of the last confrontation in 2020, China has expanded infrastructure along the Himalayan border, including building facilities for its soldiers stationed there, warehouses for weapons and ammunition, and heliports.
The ministry said conducting normal construction work on its own territory is entirely within China’s sovereignty.
Referring to China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the Indian research paper said, “Given the internal constraints…in China and its economic interests in the region, the PLA would continue to expand its military infrastructure and skirmishes would also become frequent, may or may not follow a pattern.” Not.”
“If we analyze the pattern of skirmishes and tensions, the intensity has increased with an interval of 2-3 years since 2013-2014,” it said.
“With the massive infrastructure the PLA has built on the Chinese side, both armies are testing each other’s response, artillery strength and infantry mobilization time.”
India and China share a 3,500km border that has been disputed since the 1950s. The two sides went to war over this in 1962.
Reporting by Krishn Kaushik in New Delhi, Yew Lun Tian in Beijing, Editing by YP Rajesh, Raju Gopalakrishnan and Clelia Oziel
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