PTI, KIBITHU: In a fresh incident of friction, the Chinese military last month strongly protested against the Indian Army’s “transgression” into the strategically sensitive Asaphila area along the disputed border in Arunachal Pradesh, but the Indian side roundly rejected the complaint, official sources said.
The sources said the Chinese side raised the issue at a ‘Border Personnel Meeting’ (BPM) on March 15 here but the Indian Army dismissed it, saying that the area in the upper Subansiri region of Arunachal Pradesh belongs to India and it has regularly been carrying out patrols there.
The sources told PTI that the Chinese side called India’s patrolling in the area a “transgression” and the Indian Army objected to the terminology.
“China’s protest to our patrolling in Asaphila is surprising,” said a source, adding there were several instances of Chinese intrusions in the area which had been taken up seriously by the Indian side in the past.
Under the BPM mechanism, the two sides can register their protest over any incident of transgression as there are varying perceptions about the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between the two countries.
The delegation of China’s Peoples Liberation Army specifically mentioned extensive patrolling in Asaphila by Indian troops, saying such “violations” may escalate tensions between the two sides in the area.
