Chinese troops crossed LAC over 500 times :- 17.5.12-TOI

Is Beijing Resorting To Slow But Steady Cartographic Aggression?

New Delhi: Needling India all along the unresolved 4,057-km Line of Actual Control (LAC), Chinese troops have crossed over into Indian territory over 500 times since January, 2010.
    But much more than the sheer number of these “transgressions” — the government refuses to call them “intrusions” — it’s the increasingly aggressive behaviour of the 2.5-million-strong People’s Liberation Army (PLA) along the LAC that remains a major worry.
    Many experts feel China, after building massive military infrastructure in Tibet Autonomous Region with five airbases, an extensive rail network and over 58,000-km of roads, is now resorting to “a slow but steady cartographic aggression” to keep India under pressure.
    The government, as always, played down the issue by holding the transgressions took place due to “differing perceptions” about where the LAC actually lies. “Our security forces also continue to patrol all areas that fall within the Indian perception of the LAC,” said defence minister A K Antony in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
    Union minister of state for home Mullappally Ramachandran, however, did admit the number of transgressions by PLA troops stood at 228 in 2010, 213 in 2011 and 64 till April.
    Similar figures, if not more, have been recorded in earlier years. The number of Chinese transgressions, as Antony said, have “generally been as per established pattern” during the last five years.
    But that does not detract from the fact that the PLA has been flexing its muscles through an aggressive border management policy to stake claim to disputed areas in all the three sectors — western (Ladakh), middle (Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh) and eastern (Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh).
    Chinese troops, for instance, damaged a 200-feet long stonewall in Yangtse area of Tawang in Arunachal last year, which was subsequently re-built by India after lodging a strong protest with Beijing.
    Armed motorised as well as boat patrols by PLA in the strategicallylocated Trig Heights and Pangong Tso lake in eastern Ladakh have also intensified since 2009. Similarly, Chinese has stepped up claims along the 206-km border between Tibet and Sikkim, which India long considered was “a settled matter”, with the socalled 2.1 sq km “finger area” in the northernmost tip of the state remaining a specific matter of concern.
    New Delhi hopes the new bilateral boundary coordination mechanism, which became operational two months ago after being inked during the 15th round of border talks between national security advisor Shivshankar Menon and his Chinese counterpart Dai Bingguo in January, will help prevent border flare-ups between the two armies.
    India also takes up “specific incidents” of transgressions by PLA through hotlines, flag meetings, border personnel meeting (BPM) and diplomatic channels. During the 4th India-China annual defence dialogue last December, India also told China that military patrols along the LAC should not be undertaken at night, nor should they “surprise each other”. Moreover, laid-down stand-operating procedures to cool down tempers should be followed in the event of face-offs between the two armies.
    India also suggested the proposed BPM mechanism at Lipulekh in the middle sector should be shifted to the nearby Mana Pass to make it operational, to follow the ones already in place at Nathu La, Bumla, Spanggur and Kibithu-Damai.