What Xi Wants

The latest wave of Chinese aggression on the border seems to be in response to India’s recent territorial reassertion in the Himalayan belt. China wants to take over the tiny sliver of territory between Aksai Chin and the Shaksgam valley controlled by India, which will result in enhanced military and territorial links with Pakistan and provide a big boost to its Belt and Road Initiative

- Namrata Biji Ahuja And Pradip R. Sagar

Arguably, no one serving in the Indian Army knows Ladakh and China better than Lieutenant General Yogesh Kumar Joshi. He served in Ladakh during the Kargil war, was military attache in Beijing, was on the China desk at the directorate-general of military operations in the Army headquarters, and now heads the Northern Command. So when he told his chief, General M.M. Naravane, on May 22 that the Chinese incursion in eastern Ladakh was an act of aggression, that was that.

Joshi had three arguments to differentiate the current intrusion from routine transgressions that take place on the 4,057-km Line of Actual Control. First, the number of Chinese troops in the area was much larger than a patrol party. Second, patrols are usually not aggressive; these men were. Third, the Chinese did not respond to local Indian commanders’ call for a ceremonial border meeting on May 1 to mark Labour Day.

On May 5, patrolmen from both countries clashed in the Pangong Lake area. A Chinese military helicopter came close to the area and the Indian Air Force responded by scrambling a Sukhoi-30 fighter. Soon, intrusions were reported from Demchok and Galwan valley in the Ladakh sector and Naku La in Sikkim.

Satellite images have shown 800 to 1,000 military tents set up by the Chinese in at least three locations on the banks of the River Galwan, which was a flashpoint in the 1962 Sino-Indian war. There are 4,000 to 5,000 Chinese troops around Galwan, Pangong Lake, and Demchok in the Ladakh sector and in the Harsil area of Uttarakhand. The Indian Army, too, has moved in strength, and the troops have been told that they are in for the long haul.