Beijing suddenly deciding to revive the established order ante has surprised many within the Indian establishment Indian military planners point to the presence of an outsized number of tank transporters at area headquarters of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) at Rudok and Xiadullah across Rezang La and Karakoram Pass respectively as a sign that the Chinese Army has plans to maneuver armor from the East Ladakh front lines to depth areas in Xinjiang and Tibetan part of the disengagement along the road of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh that ends a 10-month standoff between PLA and therefore the Indian Army.
All I can say is that the disengagement process is moving on well, though the date of the subsequent meeting of military commanders is yet to be decided said a senior Indian official who asked to not be named. The military commanders of the 2 countries have met ninefold to facilitate the disengagement, although the breakthrough is recent. The withdrawal spans several friction areas along LAC. the size of the withdrawal, the planners said, shows the extent to which Beijing had built up its military presence within the area.
Analysts said a mixture of smart maneuvering by Indian troops, resolve from New Delhi, and non-military pressure delivered to bear on Beijing on both the diplomatic and economic fronts. While the Northern Command of the Indian Army on Tuesday released pictures to verify the withdrawal of armor by each side, there’s evidence of the presence of around 28 tank transporters on the southern banks of Spanggur Tso, near Rezang La ridgeline, to ferry armor from the front-line to the depth areas.
The people cited within the first instance added. Spanggur Tso, a bitter water lake, houses the Moldo garrison of PLA on its banks. Although the PLA withdrawal is on target, Beijing’s decision to suddenly restore established order ante on both banks of Pangong Tso has baffled many within the Indian security establishment. While a neighborhood of national security planners believes that this withdrawal is tactical and driven by internal considerations, others believe that Beijing acted to stem the rapid slide in bilateral relations.
However, one thing on which both agree is that China will need to be watched very carefully for the remaining part of the year before coming to any conclusion. Since February 10, there has been intense activity between finger 4 and finger 7 mountainous spurs on the north banks of Pangong Tso with no but 25 vehicles, 10-12 tanks, and 14 tents being seen at Srijap complex, east of finger 8 of the lake. At Rug, which has been PLA headquarters since the 1962 war and is situated 63 kilometers diametrically opposite Rezang La in occupied Aksai Chin, a minimum of 250 heavy military vehicles are getting used to moving deployed troops to depth areas.
At Xiadullah, again a PLA headquarter since 1962 and 96 kilometers across Karakoram Pass, as many as 12 tank transporters are getting used to ferry tanks from deployments across the Daulet Beg Oldi sector. PLA is understood to possess deployed its strategic missiles near Xiadullah.
