China conducting night drills near Ladakh, brings in advanced weapons systems close to India border....
China conducting night drills near Ladakh, brings in advanced weapons systems close to India border....
Western Theatre Command of People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China is ramping up military exercises, including night drills, in the high-altitude areas in the Xinjiang Military District, which faces India.
With this, the Western Theatre Command, which guards the entire border with India, seeks to familiarise its troops with new-generation weapons and equipment, reported South China Morning Post newspaper.
"Since the start of the autumn, several forces in the Xinjiang military district (which faces India) have been carrying out night battle drills at altitudes of around 5,000 metre (16,400 feet)," said the report citing PLA Daily, a military newspaper.
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The report quoted Yang Yang, a company commander saying, “We have revised our schedules and demanded soldiers meet higher standards for high-altitude training as we need to deal with a harsher battlefield environment amid increasing challenges in the peripheral areas.”
Also, the PLA troops are bringing in more advanced weapons systems close to the Indian border. “PLA’s new Type PHL-11 truck-mounted self-propelled 122mm multiple system rocket launchers had been deployed in the area and were being used for precision strike drills,” it said.
Also read | China’s property slowdown sends chill through the economyThe border standoff between the armies of India and China erupted in 2020, following a violent clash in the Pangong lake area in eastern Ladakh. Following this, both sides gradually enhanced their deployment by rushing in tens of thousands of soldiers as well as heavy weaponry.
As a result of a series of military and diplomatic talks, the two sides completed the disengagement process in Gogra area in August.
India and China, which fought a full-scale border war in 1962, have long accused each other of trying to take territory along their unofficial border known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
Recently, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has told his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi that the two sides should work for an early resolution of the remaining issues along the LAC in eastern Ladakh to restore peace and tranquility in the border areas as this has been an essential basis for progress in Sino-India ties.
Jaishankar conveyed his views at a meeting with Wang on the sidelines of the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Tajikistan capital Dushanbe on September 16.
Chinese Foreign Ministry also issued a statement saying Minister Wang hoped India will meet China halfway to move the border situation towards stability and shift it from "urgent dispute settlement to regular management and control.
