By Choekyi Lhamo
DHARAMSHALA, June 3: Chinese government mouthpiece, Global Times, on Wednesday reported that Chinese military in Tibet conducted high altitude, night-time infiltration drills amid the ongoing border stand-off with India. “The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Tibet Military Command recently sent troops to a high-altitude region at an elevation of 4,700 meters at night for infiltration exercises behind enemy lines and tested their combat capability under a harsh environment,” it reported June 3.
The report stated that at 1 pm on an undisclosed date, the drills were conducted in the Tanggula Mountains, which is situated in the central Tibetan plateau near the eastern border of Tibet. It noted that the army vehicles “turned off their lights and used night vision devices to avoid hostile drone reconnaissance.” Ma Qian, Commander of the battalion, said that more than 2,000 ammunitions were fired during the mock battle exercise. “The exercises not only tested the results of the troops’ training with newly commissioned equipment, but also placed them in an extremely complicated situation,” Ma said.
The report also noted that China and India have been at an impasse due to the clashes and both have “reinforced deployments” on its sides. The Global Times quoted a retired PLA officer who was deployed in Tibet as saying, “infiltrating behind enemy lines and launching an attack at a hostile command centre at night can effectively win a small-scale conflict with only one battle” as the surprise factor in the attack would play a significant role.
India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has finally acknowledged on Tuesday that China had indeed deployed troops in “significant numbers” at the LAC. He said that the two nations would hold talks on June 6 to resolve the border tensions. Talks held on Tuesday with Major generals appeared to be inconclusive. These heavy deployments have been reported in four locations along the LAC.
The tension between the Chinese and Indian troops began in early May when Chinese soldiers clashed with their Indian counterparts, several kilometers within the Indian side of the LAC in Ladakh. Another skirmish was also reported between the two sides on the LAC in Sikkim around the same time.
