China provokes again, this time sets up camp

In yet another face-off with Indian Army, similar to the one in Ladakh, Chinese troops reportedly intruded more than 20 km inside Indian territory in Arunachal Pradesh last week and camped there for over 3 to 4 days.

The first intrusion was detected on August 11 at Plam Plam, a high-altitude, sparsely populated and very remote area. The second was a few kilometres away on the Hadig La pass, just two days ago. News of these incursions came even as India landed a C-130J Super Hercules transport plane at an airstrip in Daulat Beg Oldie near the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh, the site of the India-China stand-off in April, in a flexing of muscle before border talks.

Sources told a TV channel that when the Indian troops chanced upon the Chinese soldiers camping at Plam Plam, they made a tactical retreat to come back with a reinforced patrol. But before they did that, the Chinese soldiers told them, through interpreters present in both patrols, that they were building a track to Kapatu, about 20 km into what India considers its territory.

They also boasted that they had been coming into the area for the last 12 years, since 2001.

The Indian Army launched a reinforced patrol on August 15, which went back to Plam Plam to find that the Chinese troops had withdrawn. But on August 19, they ran into a different group of Chinese soldiers in Hadig la. This

group did not camp and withdrew immediately. So did the Indian troops. The Chaglagam area, also known as "fish tail" because of the shape of the LAC in the area, has consistently seen intrusions by the Chinese in the past. China lays claim over entire Arunachal Pradesh, which is rejected by India. Both the Army headquarters in Delhi and the External Affairs Ministry downplayed the incident. Army Headquarters said the Chinese troops have gone back and such incidents keep taking place as both sides enter areas claimed by the other side while patrolling the disputed Line of Actual Control. "There has been a rebuttal by the army on this and we don't want to go beyond that. And consequent to that, obviously, if that is what the position was, we don't focus on non-events in diplomatic parlance," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin told reporters in Delhi. He was asked whether India has taken up with China the issue of incursion in Arunachal Pradesh. Input NDTV.