Military option to deal with Chinese transgressions on if talks fail: Bipin Rawat

New Delhi, Aug 24: India's Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat has said that India is open to opt for a military option to tackle the transgressions by the Chinese People's Liberation Army in Ladakh but will be exercised only if talks between the two armies fail.

"The military option to deal with transgressions by the Chinese Army in Ladakh is on but it will be exercised only if talks at the military and the diplomatic level fail," Rawat told reporters.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval are reviewing all options to restore status quo ante in Ladakh, he said.

The statement comes in the wake of the assessment by the Army that the Chinese military was not serious about the resolution of the border conflict in eastern Ladakh.

There has been a stalemate in the military talks as the Indian Army was strongly insisting that the Chinese side must restore the status quo ante of April this year to resolve the over three-month-old row.

The Indian Army has clearly stated to the Chinese People's Liberation Army that "shifting" of the Line of Actual Control was not acceptable to it, the sources said, adding that the Chinese military was now desperately attempting to give "ex post facto strategic meaning" to its actions in eastern Ladakh.