Satellite images taken on January 30 by Maxar Technologies of the United States showed a series of Chinese deployments along Pangong Tso, a strategically important lake that crosses the de facto border of the two nuclear powers, known as the Royal Control Line ( LAC). In new images taken on Tuesday, dozens of vehicles and building structures have been removed, leaving empty grounds.
China announced on February 10 that both countries had agreed to disconnect along the southern and northern shores of the lake.
Images and footage released by the Indian Army on February 10 showed bulldozers and loaded convoys, Chinese soldiers dismantling tents and carrying suitcases out of the field and moving People’s Liberation Army (PLA) tanks.
Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, said Beijing expects India to “work with China to meet halfway.”
Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh told Parliament on February 11 that both sides would “remove the advanced deployment in a phased, coordinated and verified manner”.
Under the terms of “mutual and reciprocal” disengagement, China will maintain troops in the north-east bank area of a deployment known as Finger 8, while Indian troops will maintain a permanent base close to a deployment known as Finger 3, the Minister said. of Defense Singh. Both sides will take a “similar action” on the south bank, he added.
All structures built by either side after April 2020 will be removed and all military activities will be temporarily halted on the north bank, including patrolling. Changes to the terrain, such as shelters and trenches, will also be removed, according to Joshi.
Once the disengagement is complete, commanders on both sides will meet within 48 hours to discuss the remaining issues, Singh said.
The border shock in 2020
India and China share a 3,379-kilometer-long border in the Himalayas, but both sides claim territory on either side of it.
Pangong Tso, located about 14,000 feet (4,267 meters) above sea level, covers an area that stretches from Indian territory from Ladakh to Tibet controlled by the Chinese in the Greater Kashmir region, where India, China and Pakistan claim territory .
In 1962, India and China went to war over this remote and inhospitable piece of land, finally establishing LAC – but the two countries do not agree on its precise location and both regularly accuse each other of overtaking it or seeking to expand its territory. Since then, they have had a history of mostly non-lethal clashes over the border position.
But the violence exploded last June, when at least 20 Indian soldiers were killed during a hand-to-hand confrontation near Pangong Tso, marking the deadliest border conflict in more than 40 years. China has never recognized a victim of this incident.
In September, China and India agreed to stop sending more troops to the border, after escalating tensions between countries. The situation was temporarily resolved, with both sides involved in several rounds of negotiations.
The latest round of negotiations, which led to the termination agreement, came after the Indian Army said there was a “minor” confrontation between Indian soldiers and China’s PLA near the border last month. It was “resolved by local commanders according to established protocols,” the Indian Army said in a statement, without providing details of the wounded.
“Our aim is for there to be disconnection and stability in LAC so that peace and tranquility can be properly established,” Singh said in his statement to Parliament. “We hope that this will restore the situation that existed before the impasse started last year.”
“I don’t think we’re going to go back to square one,” said Manoj Joshi of the Observer Research Foundation, a think tank based in New Delhi. He added that there are “other strategic points” at stake, such as the Galwan Valley in Ladakh, and that China continues to aggressively increase its presence along various parts of the border.
“This shutdown is limited to the Pangong area,” he said. “But it is about what we see in other areas. There are other strategic points … We need to be cautious about how this is going to play out.”