Uneasy calm

While there have been no further clashes on the India-China border after the June 15 escalation, tensions between the Asian giants are far from over

- PRADIP R. SAGAR

The Chandigarh Air Force Station has been busy. The Indian Air Force’s heavy lift strategic aircraft—C-17 Globemaster and IL-76—have been busy ferrying tanks and other armour designated for forward areas in Ladakh. Military observers said that such urgent movement to Ladakh is a first since 1962. China, too, has pumped up its forces by at least 30 per cent since the clash on June 15,said a military observer.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who went to Moscow to take part in the 75th Victory Day Parade, pressed his Russian counterpart General Sergei Shoigu for urgent supply of spares for Sukhoi Su-30MKI and MiG-29 fighters, T-90 main battle tanks and Kilo-class submarines. (More than 60 per cent of India’s weapon systems are of Russian origin.) The purchase of 21 MiG-29s and 12 Su-30MKIs is under consideration to fill gaps in India’s air combat capabilities.

Observers said the Chinese aggression in Galwan valley was the brainchild of General Zhao Zongqi, head of the People’s Liberation Army’s Western Theatre Command. Zhao, who had also planned the Doklam intrusion in 2017, is believed to have “planned the standoff” in the early months of 2020 and tasked units in the Xinjiang military district to take on Indian patrols on the northern bank of the Pangong Tso, and at Galwan, Hot Springs and Depsang Plains. Experts said that he chose Galwan valley to escalate as it was a “settled place” where Indian forces would not anticipate action, but was surprised by “mirror deployment” by India in eastern Ladakh.