CHINESE ARMY’S TRANSGRESSIONS COME DOWN AS FLAG MEETS RISE

NEW DELHI: The number of transgressions by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) thus far this year along the 3,488 km Line of Actual Control (LAC) has dropped by at least 20% from 2017, with the Chinese and Indian Armies holding more flag meetings to peacefully resolve boundary issues, two senior army officials familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity, underlining the growing warmth in the relationship between the two countries after the Doklam standoff last year.

There is increased PLA activity in Demchok in Eastern Ladakh across the LAC, the officials admit, but both Indian Army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) have noticed the drop in incursions from the Chinese side, particularly after the April 27-28 informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China’s paramount leader Xi Jinping at Wuhan. As per records, there have been around 118 PLA incursions this year, a drop from the same period in 2017.

The other significant achievement of Wuhan is that the behaviour of both armies in the LAC is no longer as aggressive as it used to be, the officials said. Hindustan Times learns that the Indian Army has told the visiting PLA delegation led by Lt Gen Liu Xiaowu of Western Theatre Command that it is ready to participate in the “hand in hand” annual counter-terrorism exercise in China towards the end of the year and has left it to PLA headquarters to propose the dates. The exercise did not take place last year due to the 73-day standoff between the two armies on the Doklam plateau in Bhutan.

While PM Modi will meet his Chinese counterpart both at the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) summit In South Africa in July and the East Asia summit in Singapore in November, the Wuhan understanding has set the cooperative agenda between the two nations.