Galwan clash: A year gone, but Chinese in no mood to budge

New Delhi, June 14: It has been a year since the violent clash between the Armies of India and China at the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh. While there is no sign of escalation, officials tell OneIndia that the Chinese have built additional accommodation and this is a sign they are ready for a long haul.

The PLA troops have built both permanent and temporary accommodation and have procured additional snow mobility vehicles. Further the Chinese troops have been rotated in the Pangong Lake area and the 4th and 6th division were withdrawn from both banks of the lake. They were replaced by the 8th and 11th divisions and both have two mobility regiments, an artillery and armoured regiment as well.

Intelligence inputs have suggested that the Chinese are preparing for a long haul and this is an indicator that they are no mood of any sort of escalation immediately.

Last week, it was year since both sides started negotiations to dial down tensions but people familiar with the developments say that there has been limited success.There have been 11 rounds of military commander level talks since the past year. The first round of talks were held on June 6 2020.

While both sides are deployed in full force, the only significant development that the two sides managed to achieve was the disengagement of front line troops in the Pangong Tso. This development took place in February and since then there has not been any progress.

Both armies have around 50,000 troops each in the Ladakh theatre. There has been no thinning down of forces even as the two sides have engaged both on the military as well as diplomatic side.