RESTORATION OF PRE-MAY 2020 STATUS QUO WAS SINGLE-POINT AGENDA OF LAC TALKS

move back from some regions, only after we moved back and this went on for nine months. In between, they would release pictures, videos, media reports showing how they have started building temporary and semi-permanent structures at the disputed site. We maintained all throughout the negotiations that we both needed to arrive at a situation which was prior to May 2020. Finally, better sense prevailed,” the official stated.

According to officials, in the beginning of January, the situation was so “explosive” at some points of the border that tanks from both sides were stationed at less than 100 feet from each other. “To be frank, it was not a comfortable situation for men from both sides. One has to keep in mind that when soldiers from the two sides are staring at each other from such close proximity, while being in such a tense situation and living in such inhospitable conditions, that a ‘slip of tongue’ or the trigger can happen easily and then it can snowball into a major mishap,” said the official quoted earlier.

Indian policymakers believe that China lost the “first mover advantage”, which it had gained when it entered the “grey areas”, after India successfully matched every man and machine and deployed “even more” than what China had assembled at the LAC, by the end of July.

“They were not expecting that such a huge number of men and machines would be deployed in such a short time by us. And the Army made a big ‘statement’ of its resolve on the night of 29 August when we re-occupied territory that we had not entered for decades”, another official told The Sunday Guardian.

The fact that India followed up the increased military deployment along the LAC by engaging in a political and economic offensive against

China too played an important role in the “cooling down” of the Chinese strategists. “The economy related steps that India took to warn China of the repercussions of engaging in the ‘salamislicing’ of Indian territories, played a big role. Chinese investors were given a clear message that they would be treated as an extension of PLA and since PLA was engaged in a hostile situation with India, these investors and their companies too would be treated as hostile entities. Policymakers have many other steps in mind to stop Chinese companies from earning money from India, this was just the ‘starting’ (referring to the banning of Chinese apps and government’s decision to scrutinize Chinese companies’ investments in India strictly),” the official quoted said.

Officials said that the disengagement will not be construed as “complete” until the last Chinese assets have gone back to the agreed position. “We have categorically communicated this that it needs to be complete disengagement, as agreed in the agreement, before we will term it as ‘done’,” the official stated.