India, China meet on 'gray zones' at Depsang
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PATROL RIGHTS, LAC PERCEPTION DISCUSSED
-India, China discuss restoring patrol rights in ‘gray zone’ areas, where the perception of LAC varies
-Try to arrive at some semblance of understanding as to what are each other’s perception of LAC and
how these be ‘respected’ by troops on the ground
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Any de-escalation in Depsang plains could take longer than usual and will be tough to implement. Military objectives of either country are far too important in this area.
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Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, Aug 8
Major General-level officers of India and China met on Saturday to reduce tensions at the Depsang plains along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh. Under the wider ambit of reducing troop mobilisation and war-waging equipment on both sides of the 900 sq km Depsang plains, the talks revolved around two issues — restoring patrolling rights in ‘gray zone’ areas, where the perception of the LAC varies, and arriving at some semblance of understanding as to what are each other’s perception of the LAC and how these be ‘respected’ by troops on the ground.
The meeting was conducted on the Indian side of the designated meeting point east of Daulat Baig Oldie (DBO). Sources said the meeting time was finalised late Friday night. The General Officer Commanding 3 Division, Major General Abhijit Bapat, led the talks.
Depsang is a flat plateau at an altitude of 16,000 feet through which passes the Darbuk-Shayok-DBO (DSDBO) road that links up to the DBO landing ground and further northwards to the Karakoram pass. Any bid to cut off the DBO could restrict access to the Karakoram pass and even attempt to seize the 20,000 feet high Sasser La, west of Depsang. It further opens a route to Sasoma and crucially the road to Siachen.
All such attempts by the PLA can be thwarted for now, explained an official. Depsang has seen two major standoffs in 2013 and 2014 besides dozens of face-offs annually.
OPTIONAL
Any de-escalation here could take longer than usual and will be tough to implement. Military objectives of either country are far too important in this area.
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China is concentrating on a place called ‘bottleneck’, about 25 south-east of the strategic airfield at the DBO, located at an altitude of 16,700 feet.The DBO is barely 20 km south of the 18,176 feet-high Karakoram pass which divides Ladakh and Xinjiang in China.
The Indian Army has in the past war-gamed a scenario if the PLA makes a west-ward thrust in the Depsang plains and how it will hold the LAC.
