CHINA GOES BACK TO 1959 VERSION OF LAC: INDIA REJECTS CLAIM

CHINA GOES BACK TO 1959 VERSION OF LAC: INDIA REJECTS CLAIM

Asia News Agency Editorial Board

India Tuesday rejected China”s “so-called unilaterally defined” Line of Actual Control(LAC) of 1959, and asked it to refrain from advancing an “untenable” interpretation of the de-facto border.

The assertion by the Ministry of External Affairs(MEA) came in response to comments by a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson that China continues to follow its 1959 stand on the perception of the LAC.

MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said “India has never accepted the so-called unilaterally defined 1959 Line of Actual Control. This position has been consistent and well known, including to the Chinese side.” Srivastava further said the two sides had engaged in an exercise to “clarify and confirm” the LAC up to 2003, but the process could not proceed further as the Chinese side did not show a willingness to pursue it.

Separately, expanding the scope of the on-going conflict, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a media briefing in Beijing that “China does not recognise the so-called ‘Ladakh Union Territory’’ illegally set up by India. We are opposed to conducting infrastructure development for military purposes in disputed border areas.” India has maintained it does not comment on the internal affairs of other countries and similarly expects other countries to do likewise.

China watchers believe with Beijing reiterating its claim on 1,597 kilometres of Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh on the basis of November 1959 maximalist cartographical claim, the Chinese Army may use this claim to put pressure on six out of 12 areas of differences in the western sector that have not been impacted in the ongoing standoff. These six areas include Samar Lungpa, Demchok and Chumar.

Profound change in the mindset of the Indian Army

Indian military commanders have asked troops to be alert. And the army is confident as there is a profound change in the mindset of the Indian Army from the 1962 defeat it suffered at the hands of the PLA. Its sole objective is of restoring status quo ante at all friction points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

The change, writes Shishir Gupta (Executive Editor, The Indian Express) came after the June 15 Galwan flare-up. And once the Prime Minister of India went to Ladakh to boost the morale and the Indian public gathered to honour the fallen, the mood changed.

Despite the tense situation on the border, the Army “has finally removed the Chinese bogey from Indian backs………with the Modi government not mincing words on China and seriously examining the penetration of Beijing into the Indian system. India is using software mining to identify parent companies and their country of origin from the details of front companies investing in India. This is a sea change from the 2000s when Chinese workers were given business visas in thousands to come to India. And when mandarins in the Ministry of External Affairs believed that the Tibet issue was like ‘flogging a dead horse’ and had lost its relevance.”

At another level, India’s strong border response “has revealed the weakness of European powers and the pusillanimity of the so called Tiger powers of South East Asia in taking on China due to their economic dependency on that country. It has shown that if you have money to throw around then not even a single Muslim power will question you on concentration camps for Sunni Uighurs in Xinjiang even as they rant over the treatment of Rohingyas by Myanmar…..”

India goes for Heron tech upgrade, missile-firing Guardian drones

Meanwhile, Gupta reports “India has decided in favour of the weaponised MQ-9B Sky Guardian drone from the US and to upgrade its existing Israeli Heron fleet with satellite communication capability in an attempt to enhance its range as well as surveillance capabilities in the midst of the Ladakh military standoff with China.

“At the same time, the face-off……has spurred the Indian private sector and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to start manufacturing short-range tactical drones as well as anti-drone systems to boost border defences.”

The three services, writes Gupta quoting government officials “have come to a conclusion that India should opt for a weaponised drone rather than the 22 reconnaissance and surveillance Sea Guardian drones approved in 2017 by the US administration for supply to India.

The MQ-9B, manufactured by General Atomics, has a 40-hour endurance with a maximum altitude of 40,000 feet and payload or weapon carrying capacity of over 2.5 tonne, including air-to-surface missiles and laser-guided bombs. “We are in negotiations with the Trump administration, which is willing to provide India with the latest armed drone technology. In this, it is the prohibitive cost of the system that is a hurdle, not the Trump administration,” said a South Block official.

Besides, India has asked Israel to upgrade its existing Heron medium-altitude, long-endurance surveillance drone by upgrading its communication links. Presently, due to lack of a satellite link in the Heron, two such unmanned aerial drones have to be flown in tandem with a time gap so that information is relayed back to base through the second drone in case of long-range surveillance.