While the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) propaganda machine reported that Indian troops were fried with futuristic energy weapons on August 29 in eastern Ladakh, the Indian military has investigated Chinese war manuals and deployed ” tunnel defenses “to prevent further offenses from the adversary.
On August 29 and 30, Indian Army troops together with the Special Frontier Force (SFF) occupied positions on the Line of Control (LoC) south of Pangong Tso Lake in the Kailash Range for the first time since 1962. The Indian army has already dismissed the PLA energy weapons report as fake news.
Read also: Indian troops hold positions in LAC in Ladakh in defiance of PLA and polar temperatures
The Chinese successfully used tunnel defenses against the Japanese in the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Vietcong used the same tactics against the Americans in the guerrilla war and against North Korea in the Korean War in the 1960s. PLA has built tunnel shelters to house aircraft at the Lhasa air base and underground pens to house nuclear ballistic missile submarines on the Hainan Islands in the South China Sea.
According to senior military officials, the Indian army has deployed large diameter Hume reinforced concrete pipes in tunnels dug to protect troops from enemy attack and surprise the adversary in the worst case. The reinforced concrete pipes have a diameter of six to eight feet, allowing troops to easily move underground from one location to another without being exposed to enemy fire. The other benefit of tunnels is that they can be heated and protect troops from polar temperatures and snow blizzards.
Read also: China is strengthening defenses across the Ladakh border, not preparing to disconnect
While the ninth round of the India-China military dialogue to disengage and de-escalate the sticking points is expected to take place soon, the Indian military has been established to defend LAC from any further transgression by the PLA. Indian security planners are quite clear that the restoration of the status quo ante has to start with the PLA, which started the entire build-up by transgressing the northern shores of Pangong Tso in early May 2020. The PLA then followed the aggression of Pangong Tso to do similar movements in the valley of the river Galwan area Gogra-Hot Springs near Kongka La.
The Indian army is not only defending Ladakh LAC, it is also closely monitoring PLA movements in the central, Sikkim and eastern sectors, while the Chinese army continues to build military infrastructure in Tibet.
Indian diplomacy is also in no rush to negotiate an early withdrawal of the PLA from eastern Ladakh and believes that restoring the status quo ante is the only fair solution, even if it takes a long time. “The PLA is always like a staring match waiting for the opponent to blink. But this aggressive tactic will not be successful with India, ”said a senior official.
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