No signs of talks on LAC, but Chinese psy ops in full swing

New Delhi, Jan 07: India and China have failed to finalise a date for the next round of military level talks. The talks are aimed at de-escalating tensions along the Line of Actual Control in Eastern Ladakh.

The deadlock continues since Beijing has opposed the proposal made by New Delhi to resolve the remaining issues in the friction points along the LAC in one go.

The last time the two sides met was at the Chuhul-Moldo border on October 10 2021. The Indian side has sent several proposals for the next round of talks, but the response has not been favourable.

India has maintained that all friction points between Depsang and Chumar should be collectively tackled during the military commander level talks. China on the other hand has not been consistent in its replies. It keeps changing its demands and hence the Indian side is not aware of which of the proposals need to be taken seriously, Hindustan Times reported.

"The Indian side...made constructive suggestions for resolving the remaining areas but the Chinese side was not agreeable and also could not provide any forward-looking proposals," a statement after the last round of talks read.

Meanwhile, the psy ops by China are in full swing. First it renamed places in Arunachal Pradesh and then a video of the Chinese flag being hoisted in Galwan Valley went viral.

These type of operations have been going on since the standoff between China and India began along the Line of Actual Control in Eastern Ladakh. It may be recalled that in September 16 2020, the Chinese PLA had tried to bring down the morale of the Indian troops.

The Chinese had put up loudspeakers and were making announcements in Hindi about the futility about being deployed at these heights. Constant attempts also made to tell the Indian soldiers that they are deployed here in the winter only because of the fancies of their leaders in New Delhi.

This was done after the Indian Army thwarted a PLA attempt on Rezang La and Rechin La Ridgeline. India had on August 29 repositioned its troops and dominated the heights of Finger 4 on the north bank of Pangong Tso. This move by India had taken the Chinese aback and today the PLA is resorting to psy-ops to demoralise the Indian troops.

In a tweet Global Times said, "in the Galwan Valley near the border with #India, under the characters "Never yield an inch of land," PLA soldiers send new year greetings to Chinese people on January 1, 2022."
China's national flag rise over Galwan Valley on the New Year Day of 2022. This national flag is very special since it once flew over Tiananmen Square in Beijing, Shen Shiwe who is part of the China state affiliated media said in another tweet.

Last week, India rejected China renaming some places in Arunachal Pradesh and asserted that the state has "always been" and will "always be" an integral part of India as assigning "invented" names does not alter this fact.

India's assertion came in response to Beijing announcing Chinese names for 15 more places in Arunachal Pradesh which the neighbouring country claims as South Tibet.

"We have seen such reports. This is not the first time China has attempted such a renaming of places in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. China had also sought to assign such names in April 2017," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.

"Arunachal Pradesh has always been, and will always be an integral part of India. Assigning invented names to places in Arunachal Pradesh does not alter this fact," he said.

(With PTI inputs)