After a 4-year stand-off with India following the aggression by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in Galwan Valley, China has said that it has withdrawn from four locations in Eastern Ladakh, including Galwan Valley.
It also highlighted that during their recent meeting in Russia, India and China agreed to collaborate on creating favourable conditions for enhancing bilateral relations.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry informed that Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks on the sidelines of a meeting of the BRICS high-ranking officials responsible for security matters in St Petersburg in Russia last Thursday where they discussed the progress made in the recent consultations on border issues.
When asked if the two countries were nearing a breakthrough to restore the bilateral ties that have been frozen for over four years due to the military standoff in Eastern Ladakh, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning responded at a media briefing on Friday. She stated that the two militaries have achieved disengagement in four areas and that the border situation is now stable.
Post-Galwan conflict with Chinese forces in 2020, India has been aggressively readying itself to counter the Dragon through diplomatically and militarily, backed with infrastructure built-up along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). India has been increasing its deployment against China in all three sectors— the northern, central and eastern sectors.
More recently, the Indian government has freed a strong contingent of 10,000 soldiers—previously deployed at its western border—to strengthen its disputed border with China amid soured relations with Beijing after the June 2020 standoff between the two countries at the Galwan area of Eastern Ladakh. Prior deployment by India directed towards China included 14 Corps based in Leh, 17 Corps and 33 Corps in Sikkim, and 3 Corps and 4 Corps in the eastern sector.
Additions and changes have been made to this such as a proposed reorganising of the 14 Division, earmarked for fighting against Pakistan in the plains, into a mountain division for deployment in Himachal and Uttarakhand against China.
India is also deploying special weapon systems like the indigenously built Light Combat Helicopter, Prachand. With an eye on Ladakh, DRDO has begun testing indigenous light tank, Zorawar, to counter China’s ZTQ-15 light tanks, which weigh just 33-tonnes (36 tonnes with additional slap-on armour), move through the 14,000-foot-high valleys with far greater ease.
China has surely noticed these measures taken by India thwart any future misadventure.
Economically also, India is outperforming China, with many multinational companies, like Apple, shifting their manufacturing base to India. Moreover, it is worried about the growing bonhomie between India and the US, with the latter wanting to arm India to counter China in South Asia.
But India can’t get complacent now. Rather it should go full throttle to strengthen its eastern and western frontiers, because a two-front war, with China and Pakistan on one side, is a looming threat.
For a long time, China has been trying to surround India by investing in its neighbouring countries and then putting them in a debt trap, like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives and of course Pakistan.
It has not stopped claiming Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh as its territories. The long-standing border dispute between the two countries could translate into a full-fledged aggression from China, which could be stronger than the one in Galwan.
According to reports, China is stoking fire in the North East by supporting militant groups operating from Myanmar. This means the threat from the Dragon is far from over.
India must fast-track its military modernisation programme by mixing imports of modern weapon systems with indigenous production. Complete Atmanirbhar is a distant dream as numerically and qualitatively, we are still far behind our targets to be optimally equipped.
Also, the Government of India should become more realistic about the external threats the country is facing and not compromise on manpower through ill-conceived recruitment policies like the Agnipath scheme. The government has to take critical decisions.