India Blocked China's Attempts To Change Status Quo In Eastern Ladakh: Army

China’s People’s Liberation Army troops “carried out provocative military movements to change the status quo” on 29-30 August, violating the consensus arrived at military and diplomatic engagements during the ongoing standoff in eastern Ladakh, Ministry of Defence said in a press release.

“Indian troops pre-empted this PLA activity on the Southern Bank of Pangong Tso Lake, undertook measures to strengthen our positions and thwart Chinese intentions to unilaterally change facts on ground,” it added.

The ministry said that a Brigade Commander level Flag Meeting is in progress at Chushul to resolve the issues.   

This is significant because there has not been any issue regarding the south bank of Pangong Tso until now, The Indian Express pointed out. The north bank of the lake has been a point of contention between the two sides since the standoff began. 

India had on Thursday said that a complete disengagement of troops in eastern Ladakh can be achieved only through mutually agreed reciprocal actions. Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said complete disengagement requires re-deployment of troops by each side towards their regular posts on their respective sides of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and this can be done only through mutually agreed actions, according to PTI.

China, meanwhile, said India should look at the big picture of bilateral ties and work with it and take concrete steps to bring the relationship back on the right track of normal development. Beijing also said New Delhi should put the border issue in an appropriate position in this “big picture” and avoid misjudgement.

(With PTI inputs)