New Delhi: China is now building a bridge across this pangong tso As well as new roads and helipads within its territory in the region for faster troop mobility, as part of the continued consolidation of military positions facing India amid the 20-month-long confrontation in the East Ladakh,
People’s Liberation Army (pla) is further strengthening its military infrastructure with additional military shelters, gun positions, helipads and jetties in the area between its military bases at ‘Finger-8’ on the northern bank of Pangong and Sirijap-I and II in the east. Is. Lake, Sources said on Monday that the new bridge is being built in the Khurnak Fort area further eastwards.
“The bridge is being constructed within Chinese territory, with prefabricated structures. But it will help the PLA to move troops and weapons faster from the north to the south coast of Pangong Tso and vice versa,” said a source.
“China clearly wants to counter India’s quick-reaction capability, which saw our troops move to the heights of the Kailash Range on the south coast in late August 2020,” he said.
The Line of Actual Control (LAC) runs from north to south on Finger-8 in the mountainous regions of the 134-km-long Pangong Tso, two-thirds of which is controlled by China as it stretches high from Tibet to India. of 13,900 ft.
According to officials serving in the area, the PLA’s Sirijap complex is about six km east of the LAC at Finger-8, with the Khurnak area 20 km ahead of it. The PLA occupied the Khornak area in the late 1950s, and then expanded its control westward into the Sirijap area during the 1962 war.
With India having better connectivity between the two banks of Pangong Tso, China now wants to bridge this gap. “Khurnak is one of the narrowest points in the middle of the lake throughout its length. Once the bridge was built, the PLA could avoid the long loop to reach the south bank via Rudok. This will provide an alternate route to the PLA,” the source said.
Army sources also dismissed a video released by a Chinese mouthpiece on Monday showing the Chinese national flag being hoisted in the Galwan Valley, claiming that the special flag was once flown over Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. went.
A source said, “The flag was not hoisted in the buffer or demilitarized zone in Galwan Valley, which came after a violent clash between rival troops in June 2020. The PLA may have hoisted it elsewhere.”
The northern bank of Pangong Tso was also the site of a major skirmish in May 2020, in which the PLA captured and fortified an 8-km stretch from Finger-4 to 8.
On 29–30 August that year, after being initially caught off-guard, Indian troops countered the PLA by capturing six to seven strategically dominating heights along the southern bank of the Pangong Tso-Kailash range area.
After several rounds of diplomatic and military talks, witnessed by the troop later in February last year, Indian troops pulled back westwards at their Dhan Singh Thapa post between Finger-2 and Finger-3 and reached the heights of the Kailash range. vacated it. PLA troops, in turn, moved back to their old positions east of Finger-8 to establish a buffer or no-patrol zone in the middle.
India and China are now finalizing the dates for the 14th round of Corps Commander-level talks later this month. On October 10, during the 13th round, China refused to complete the troop halted at Patrolling Point-15 in the Hot Springs-Gogra-Kongka La area. The standoff at the Charding Ninglung Nala (CNN) track junction in Demchok and Depsang makes the plains even more difficult, as reported by TOI.
As a result, both armies continue to deploy tanks, howitzers and surface-to-air missile systems, as well as approximately 50,000 troops, to the border in the prohibited high-altitude region for the second consecutive winter.
People’s Liberation Army (pla) is further strengthening its military infrastructure with additional military shelters, gun positions, helipads and jetties in the area between its military bases at ‘Finger-8’ on the northern bank of Pangong and Sirijap-I and II in the east. Is. Lake, Sources said on Monday that the new bridge is being built in the Khurnak Fort area further eastwards.
“The bridge is being constructed within Chinese territory, with prefabricated structures. But it will help the PLA to move troops and weapons faster from the north to the south coast of Pangong Tso and vice versa,” said a source.
“China clearly wants to counter India’s quick-reaction capability, which saw our troops move to the heights of the Kailash Range on the south coast in late August 2020,” he said.
The Line of Actual Control (LAC) runs from north to south on Finger-8 in the mountainous regions of the 134-km-long Pangong Tso, two-thirds of which is controlled by China as it stretches high from Tibet to India. of 13,900 ft.
According to officials serving in the area, the PLA’s Sirijap complex is about six km east of the LAC at Finger-8, with the Khurnak area 20 km ahead of it. The PLA occupied the Khornak area in the late 1950s, and then expanded its control westward into the Sirijap area during the 1962 war.
With India having better connectivity between the two banks of Pangong Tso, China now wants to bridge this gap. “Khurnak is one of the narrowest points in the middle of the lake throughout its length. Once the bridge was built, the PLA could avoid the long loop to reach the south bank via Rudok. This will provide an alternate route to the PLA,” the source said.
Army sources also dismissed a video released by a Chinese mouthpiece on Monday showing the Chinese national flag being hoisted in the Galwan Valley, claiming that the special flag was once flown over Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. went.
A source said, “The flag was not hoisted in the buffer or demilitarized zone in Galwan Valley, which came after a violent clash between rival troops in June 2020. The PLA may have hoisted it elsewhere.”
The northern bank of Pangong Tso was also the site of a major skirmish in May 2020, in which the PLA captured and fortified an 8-km stretch from Finger-4 to 8.
On 29–30 August that year, after being initially caught off-guard, Indian troops countered the PLA by capturing six to seven strategically dominating heights along the southern bank of the Pangong Tso-Kailash range area.
After several rounds of diplomatic and military talks, witnessed by the troop later in February last year, Indian troops pulled back westwards at their Dhan Singh Thapa post between Finger-2 and Finger-3 and reached the heights of the Kailash range. vacated it. PLA troops, in turn, moved back to their old positions east of Finger-8 to establish a buffer or no-patrol zone in the middle.
India and China are now finalizing the dates for the 14th round of Corps Commander-level talks later this month. On October 10, during the 13th round, China refused to complete the troop halted at Patrolling Point-15 in the Hot Springs-Gogra-Kongka La area. The standoff at the Charding Ninglung Nala (CNN) track junction in Demchok and Depsang makes the plains even more difficult, as reported by TOI.
As a result, both armies continue to deploy tanks, howitzers and surface-to-air missile systems, as well as approximately 50,000 troops, to the border in the prohibited high-altitude region for the second consecutive winter.
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