As the onset of winter rapidly approaches, India has already started preparing for the punishing winters at the Eastern Ladakh as the border stand-off with China shows no sign of abating. However, the Shanghai Cooperation Operation summit at Moscow seems to have changed the equations as it appears that China has quietly started to surrender.
In a significant development, the Indian government has witnessed no major aggressive activity by China along the LAC in the past 5-6 days. While the situation at the LAC was at razor’s edge before the SCO summit in Moscow, it is believed that the situation at the LAC has now become “quiet”.
Before Moscow meet LAC was indeed hot, but since then situation has been "quiet". https://t.co/F6wkIHZ1fU
— Sidhant Sibal (@sidhant) September 16, 2020
This is a significant development and comes days after Foreign Minister S Jaishankar met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and agreed on 5 point consensus to deflate the situation at the LAC. The SCO summit saw Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in an uncharacteristic combative mood as he met his Chinese counterpart with Russia increasingly edging towards India in the stand-off between India and China. Rajnath Singh also sent a stern message to China on the floor of the Indian parliament as he squarely blamed the PLA troops for the current stand-off and refused to rule out an escalation, if the need arises.
Perhaps, a confluence of factors as India refused to bow to China’s bullying tactics has forced China into maintaining an eery silence. Before the SCO summit, Indian and Chinese troops fired 100-200 rounds on Pangong north bank reports The Indian Express.
The publication quoted a top government officer who claimed that,“100 to 200 shots” were fired in the air by India and China on the ridge line where Finger 3 and Finger 4 merge before moving north as one ridge.
Keeping the onset of harsh winter in mind, India has activated its entire logistics network in order to transport supplies to its troops along the Eastern LAC.
The Indian military have already moved more than 150,000 tonnes of materials into Ladakh which includes vast quantities of ammunition, equipment, fuel, winter supplies and food.
Major General Arvind Kapoor, chief of staff of the Indian army’s 14 Corps was quoted as saying, “All the supplies that we need have already been pushed to wherever they are required.”
He added, “In a place like Ladakh, operations logistics is of huge importance. In the last 20 years, we have mastered it.” India has displayed tremendous proactiveness in preparing its troops to battle the PLA in the harsh winters keeping in mind the fact that mountain passes into Ladakh are blocked by snow at least four months every winter.
While India is preparing for the winter, it seems that China is preparing for a surrender. However, China cannot be trusted as backstabbing and treachery is the hallmark of the Chinese Communist Party. It seems that any further Chinese misadventure will be promptly dealt with by the Indian Armed Forces.
