North bank of Pangong Tso lake shows massive buildup of Chinese troops

Last updated on February 15th, 2023 at 12:35 pm

For the past one week now Indian troops are engaged in LAC standoff on south bank of Pangong Tso lake. Now a massive Chinese buildup has begun again in north bank’s Finger area of Pangong Tso. On Wednesday ground commanders had met but talks remained inconclusive. An official reported that PLA (People’s Liberation Army) has occupied ridge lines and concentrated its troops on north bank of Pangong where Fingers 4-8 are located.

Though the troops concentration on both sides is worrying, the Chinese troops are dominating the area. This latest development of increased buildup has happened a day before Foreign Ministries of both nations are scheduled to meet in Moscow where eight nation meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is to be held.

Reports say that China has ingressed approximately 8 km in north bank’s Finger area. As a result India hasn’t been able to patrol beyond Finger 4 since last week of April when China had concentrated its troops along the LAC in eastern Ladakh. Before that Indian troops could patrol till Finger 8. After several rounds of talks between diplomats from both sides China had partially retreated to Finger 5 and India back to Finger 2.

India has been able to dominate the south bank of lake and ridges and hills in Chushul area. While attention was in this area, Chinese troops got buildup in north bank. Aerial shots were fired for first time in 45 years along the LAC. Indian Army said that Chinese troops fired some aerial rounds on September 7 while they attempted to close in on one of forward positions of India. China has however accused India of firing first.

On Wednesday China’s state media said that PLA was “mobilizing forces, including bombers, air defence troops, artillery, armoured vehicles, paratroopers, special forces and infantry units from different parts of the country to the bordering plateau region” following the latest escalations.

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