The Indian and Chinese military commanders are expected to meet again in a few days after the marathon talks on Monday failed to cover all points of disputes and differences between the two countries over the border confrontation.
The outgoing and incoming Ladakh Indian corps commander and the commander of the Xinjiang Southern Military District of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) together with the head of the Indian China division in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs met in Moldo on Monday as part of an agreement between the foreign ministers of two countries.
Authorized sources described the nature of the talks as “complex” and each side stood firm but agreed that India and the PLA should completely disengage to ensure peace in the border areas. “We will need at least two more rounds of talks at the military-diplomatic level before a consensus is reached on the disengagement exercise,” said a senior official.
The roadmap to peace on the Royal Line of Control (LAC) is the disconnection, downsizing and then the withdrawal of both armies with all steps requiring a certain amount of timing. The problem is quite serious with the PLA deploying a large number of weapons platforms, including intermediate-range ballistic missiles, in occupied Aksai Chin, to threaten India. It is quite evident from the satellite images that the PLA has filled Aksai Chin with heavy weapons platforms and continues to accumulate at the air bases in the Western Theater Command. In addition to the missile silos in Xaidulla, just across the Karakoram pass in Xinjiang and Qizil Jilga in Tibet, the PLA is playing the game of psychological warfare to the hilt in Ladakh with rocket regiments, missile batteries surface-to-air and artillery weapons deployed.
The PLA deployed similar tactics in the South China Sea by test firing DF-26 and DF 21-D missiles to threaten US Navy carriers in exercise, Ronald Reagan and Nimitz. Despite having ICBMs in its arsenal, China is not party to any international treaty on strategic arms reduction and the need for it to join tripartite talks with Russia has been a common refrain of the Trump administration.
However, the elimination of heavy weapons platforms and missile launch systems is phase II of the withdrawal process and may take the entire winter of 2020, just as the withdrawal of troops will take time.
“The Indian Army, however, is not deterred by the PLA’s psychic operations in Aksai Chin and is ready with an accountant in the event of a worst-case scenario. Just as China has missiles to cover all of India, the reverse is also true even though there would be a mismatch in the numbers in favor of Beijing, ”said a senior Indian military commander.
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