The Chinese forces, in order to claim the disputed territory in contested fingers region of Ladakh’s Pangong Tso lake, have inscribed a massive Mandarin symbol and map of China onto the ground they occupy.
The Chinese forces, in order to claim the disputed territory in contested fingers region of Ladakh’s Pangong Tso lake, have inscribed a massive Mandarin symbol and map of China onto the ground they occupy.
Located between ‘Finger 4’ and ‘Finger 5’, the inscriptions measure approximately 81 metres in length and 25 metres in breadth and are large enough to be clearly spotted by passing imagery satellites. Wang Hajian, the overall commander of Chinese forces in Tibet was photographed repainting the character of ‘China’ in a frontier position along the India-China boundary earlier this week.
The spurs which extend to the banks of the high-altitude Pangong Tso Lake are referred to as ‘Fingers’. India claims it has a right to patrol from ‘Finger 1’ to ‘Finger 8’. China believes it has the right to patrol from ‘Finger 8’ to ‘Finger 4’. After violent face-off between the troops in May in which dozens if Indian soldiers were attacked with weapons such as batons wrapped with barbed wire, ‘Finger 4’ is the boundary between the two sides. The significant presence of Chinese forces at ‘Finger 4’ now, does not permit Indian soldiers from patrolling in the direction of ‘Finger 8’ anymore.
The images acquired by NDTV show a significant consolidation of Chinese soldiers in the region where Indian soldiers are being stopped from patrolling.
According to the report by NDTV, at least 186 pre-fabricated huts, shelters and tents of varying sizes are visible in the new images with the Chinese occupying areas not only along the bank of Pangong Tso but 8 kilometres along a ridge-line which extends to Chinese territory.
Lt. Generals from India and China will have a third round of talks today amid the ongoing tension between India-China. The commander of the 14 Corps Lieutenant General Harinder Singh will participate in the talks from India’s side. This meeting is expected to start at 10.30 am in Indian territory in Chushul Sector along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). There will be a talk on deciding the process of withdrawing troops from the disputed places of eastern Ladakh.
This will be second such meeting after June 15 violent face-off between the soldiers of the two countries at Galwan valley in which 20 Indian soldiers were martyred including a commanding officer.
In the subsequent military level talks it was decided to disengage but some media reports state that China has started increasing the troops and began build up near Pangong Tso and even Depsang region along LAC
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