NEW DELHI: Warning China of “ necessary retaliation ” if the red lines are now broken in eastern Ladakh, a senior government official said Wednesday that India has further strengthened its forward positions to counter new military build-ups Chinese and threatening movements in high places. altitude region.
The warning comes after bullets were fired for the first time in 45 years near Mukhpari Top in the Chushul sector on Monday, and ahead of an expected meeting between India’s foreign minister. S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, in Moscow on Thursday.
The PLA has begun parading tanks and troops in the South bank from the Pangong Tso-Chushul area on a daily basis in an attempt to intimidate Indian troops after they occupied multiple tactical heights there in a proactive military maneuver on August 29-30.
“The dispute is being directed from the top of the political-military hierarchy in China, not by the exuberance of the local PLA commanders. It can take any path. But if China wants to start a war, it will also have to pay a high price, ”said the official, noting that the events in LAC were not just an action-reaction sequence. The PLA could even attempt to conquer heights elsewhere in a tit-for-tat move, but Indian commanders on the ground have been given “complete freedom” to respond as they see fit.
“Our soldiers on the heights are well armed and fully prepared. We have even driven tanks up the ridge near Rechin La (Reqin mountain pass), ”the official said. The message has been forcefully conveyed to the PLA not to try to breach the defenses of the Indian perimeter, which includes barbed wire, set high up.
“They constitute a red line. In fact, nowhere are we ill-prepared now, ”he added. The assessment of the Indian security establishment is that while China may have placed around 50,000 soldiers along the border in eastern Ladakh, as well as around 150 fighters, bombers and other aircraft at air bases in Xinjiang and Tibet. , the deployments have not yet reached the threshold of a full-blown conflict.
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