Conflict
‘Stop provoking or prepare to be defeated’: PLA holds live-fire drills in Tibet ‘aimed at China-India border situation’
New Delhi: Amid escalating tensions between India and China at LAC in Ladakh, the editor of a news organisation based in Beijing Global Times on Thursday shared a video of Tibet military command’s live-fire drill practice saying that they were “all aimed at the China-India border.”
Revealing that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) was also conducting drills with airborne troops, Hu Xijin said that the Indian army should either “stop provoking or be prepared to be defeated.”
The PLA on Wed released a video of Tibet military command’s live-fire drill on the plateau. PLA also conducted a drill of airborne troops. Yes, these are all aimed at the situation on China-India border. The Indian army will either stop provoking or be prepared to be defeated. pic.twitter.com/124h0ccu8h
— Hu Xijin 胡锡进 (@HuXijin_GT) September 9, 2020
“The PLA on Wed released a video of Tibet military command’s live-fire drill on the plateau. PLA also conducted a drill of airborne troops. Yes, these are all aimed at the situation on China-India border. The Indian army will either stop provoking or be prepared to be defeated,” Hu Xijin tweeted.
Earlier, China claimed that Indian troops “illegally crossed the Line of Actual Control (LAC)” and outrageously fired warning shots on armed forces personnel of China.
However, the Indian army has refuted all the claims saying that India is committed to disengagement and de-escalating the situation on the LAC but China continues to undertake provocative activities to escalate.
ALSO READ: Amid ‘disengagement’ claims meetings between India-China yield no results
Meanwhile, the People’s Liberation Army heavily deployed its troops along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh’s Chushul district, which was followed by Indian Army changing its positions from “border management” to “border securing,” a Hindustan Times report read.
China has been deploying fighter and bomber aircraft to its bases in Tibet ever since tension over Ladakh started rising in May, The Week reported.
Earlier, China demanded that India withdraw its armed forces personnel from China-India border in order to avoid escalation of tensions.
China has reportedly built surface-to-air missiles near a lake, which is a part of the Kailash-Mansarovar.
On August, 31, Indian army informed that Chinese troops “carried out provocative military movements to change the status quo” near Pangong Tso lake in Ladakh, on Saturday night and they were blocked by the Indian armed forces personnel manning the area, the government said.
A Brigade Commander level Flag Meeting was later held at Chushul to resolve the issues, as per the Government of India situation update.
As New Delhi claims that both India and China will “continue to sincerely work towards complete disengagement” of armed forces personnel, talks aimed at resolving the military standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, has so far yielded no results.
A Chinese diplomat reacting to the standoff in Ladakh had said that the move is linked to the Indian government’s unilateral decision to scrap Article 370 in August last year.
The move changed the laws that prohibited Indians from buying land in Kashmir, and made the constitution of Jammu and Kashmir defunct, triggering fears of demographic change in the Muslim majority region of Kashmir.
When India scrapped Jammu and Kashmir’s special status on August 5 last year, the Chinese foreign ministry had issued two statements criticising the development, including one that focused on the splitting of the state into union territories.
This statement, while urging India to be “cautious” on the border issue and to avoid “actions that further complicate the border issue”, said: “China has always opposed India’s inclusion of Chinese territory in India’s administrative jurisdiction in the western part of the Sino-Indian border.”
This was a reference to the area in Ladakh that New Delhi claims but is controlled by Beijing.
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