- By Mayukh Debnath
- Sat, 09 Mar 2024 11:43 AM (IST)
- Source:REUTERS
India-China Border Row: The Centre has shifted 10,000 soldiers, previously deployed at the country's western front, to the posts along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, as per a report by Bloomberg. The LAC acts as the notional demarcation line between India and China.
Reacting to the purported addition of troops along the disputed border, which comes amidst the ongoing border dispute between India and China in eastern Ladakh, Beijing said that it believes the move is "not conducive to easing tensions". "China is committed to working with India to safeguard the peace and stability of the border areas," Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, said on Friday.
"We believe that India's practice is not conducive to safeguarding peace and is not conducive to easing tensions," the official added. She further stated, "India's increase in military deployments in border areas does not help to calm the situation in the border areas or to safeguard peace and safety in these areas."
India and China share a 3,800-km frontier, much of it poorly demarcated. At least 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese troops were killed in clashes in the area in mid-2020. The border dispute continues to persist even after de-escalation at multiple flash points and several rounds of bilateral military commander-level talks.
Both militaries have fortified positions and deployed troops and equipment there in the last few years. Chinese troop buildup and development of China's military infrastructure along the LAC continued throughout 2022, the US Department of Defence said in a report released in October last year. Titled 'Military and Security Developments involving the People's Republic of China 2023', the report claimed that China built multiple helipads and new roads along the LAC in 2022.
(With inputs from Reuters)
