A report prepared by a top United States military commander for the Senate Armed Services Committee seems to contradict the government’s contention that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army had pulled back from parts of Ladakh along the LAC which it had occupied for months.
India and China last month announced they had completed an agreement for their soldiers to withdraw troops on either side of the Pangong Lake, where the clashes first occurred in May. The Ministry of External Affairs had then said that New Delhi did not concede any territory as part of the disengagement agreement.
The submissions made by US Indo-Pacific Command chief Admiral Phil Davidson as part of the report titled ‘US Indo-Pacific Command Posture’ said that “the PLA has not yet withdrawn from several forward positions it seized following the initial clash, and the consequent escalation of tensions between the PRC [People’s Republic of China] and India has resulted in casualties on both sides”.
Davidson described Chinese aggression along the LAC as a manifestation of Beijing’s “expansionary territorial ambitions”. He stated that the “large scale PLA mobilisation”, which “is particularly notable considering the elevation, terrain, and distance involved”, in the region has stoked regional concerns that China “will increasingly use force to achieve desired outcomes”, as per a report carried by The Scroll.
The relevant extract of the report read:
“The PRC’s expansionary territorial ambitions are also on display along its western border, where the PLA has been engaged in a standoff with Indian forces along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) since May 2020. The standoff was predicated by clashes over construction activities near the disputed border PLA ground maneuver and support elements subsequently forward-deployed roughly 50,000 soldiers along the LAC, leading to a counter-deployment by the Indian Army.
“The PLA has not yet withdrawn from several forward positions it seized following the initial clash, and the consequent escalation of tensions between the PRC and India has resulted in casualties on both sides. This large-scale PLA mobilization—which is particularly notable considering the elevation, terrain, and distance involved—has stoked regional concerns that the PRC will increasingly use force to achieve desired outcomes.”
The report by the top US military official came ahead of India’s participation in the first online summit of the Quad bloc of nations on March 12, which will be attended by US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Japan Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.
