China now moves PLA battalion near Lipulekh Pass

New Delhi, Aug 02: A battalion of the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army has been mobilised at the Lipulekh Pass near Uttarakhand. Around 1,000 PLA soldiers have been moved at some distance from the border.

Troops have been witnessed here over the past few weeks outside the Ladakh sector, where India and China have been engaged in a standoff since May.

However there has been a build up of forces across the Line of Actual Control at Lipukekh Pass, top officials told OneIndia. There has been also been an increase of troops along the LAC in parts of North Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.

Lipulekh Pass has been in the news after Nepal objected to an 80 kilometre road which was built by India to the Himalayan Pass. It may be recalled that Nepal had escalated tensions with India and even redrawn its political map to add the Kalapani area and Lipulekh Pass. It has claimed that these areas which lie close to the tri-junction of India, China and Nepal as its own.

India has however matched the strength of the Chinese and is also keeping a very close watch on Nepal in this connection.
Meanwhile, there has been some thinning of troops at the standoff points. However the disengagement has not taken place. While China had last week claimed that disengagement had taken place, India had contested the claim.

The official cited above said that we continue to remain on guard. We do not trust the Chinese especially after the June 15 Galwan Valley aggression. There is also a fear that the Chinese PLQA may come back again to North of Pangong Tso once the winter is over, the official also noted