As the majority of Han Chinese struggle with the high altitudes of Tibet and Eastern Ladakh, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has now started to recruit local, unemployed youth in Tibet to form a “volunteer militia” in areas across the border from the Yadong county, located opposite Sikkim, intelligence reports have suggested.

The Indian military and intelligence agencies are as of now keeping an eye on this new development.

India’s border with China is 3,488-km long and it runs from Ladakh at one end to Arunachal Pradesh. This drive to get the locals is clearly to fill its gaps when it comes to high altitude warfare. 

As per reports, the PLA is recruiting unemployed youths who will be sent to police and PLA centres for training and subsequent employment once the indoctrination is completed.

President Xi Jinping in 2013 had said, “To govern the country well we must first govern the frontiers well, and to govern the frontiers well we must first ensure stability in Tibet,”.

Once these locals are complete their training they could be deployed as reinforcements for the regular Chinese army units to keep a watch on border residents at the LAC and gather intelligence.

China is also trying to create a force modeled like the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the Special Frontier Force (SFF) with men recruited from Tibet Autonomous Region and create a Special Tibetan Army Unit.

Lt Gen. S.L. Narasimhan (Retd), who is a member of the National Security Advisory Board, said “Firstly, the border areas are well held in that sector by troops on our side, so it is not easy for anyone to come across and gain access to our side. In a few areas, where the troops may not be manning right up to the LAC, the terrain is so rugged that it would not help in any kind of intel gathering,”.

“In the 1954 agreement on trade with Tibet, it was mentioned that the Tibetan Autonomous Region is a part of China. So, if China is recruiting Tibetan youth in the area, it is their decision. We have to maintain a constant watch along the LAC,” he said.

Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

The post China’s PLA recruit Tibetan youths to man border posts and gather intel against India appeared first on The Commune.

As the Indian Army along with the Special Frontier Force took control of crucial strategic heights in the northern bank of the Pangong Tso Lake, Chinese Defence Minister General Wei Fenghe requested for a meet on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization or SCO on Friday with Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

Meanwhile, India has asked China to show sincerity and restore peace along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and border areas. India wants total disengagement and de-escalation in accordance with the bilateral agreements and protocols.

Rajnath Singh is in Moscow for the SCO Defence Minister meeting and he will be joined by his respective counterparts from Pakistan, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan who are part of the SCO grouping and China.

When Singh was in Russia to take part in the victory day celebrations amid the spread of the Wuhan Virus, China sent a request for a meeting but at that time no meeting had happened.

Though China has requested for a meeting which will be the highest level talks held between the two nations ever since China took an aggressive poster art the LAC. However, it is not confirmed that if India will agree to China’s request.

India made it very clear that the ongoing situation at the LAC control in Eastern Ladakh is due to “direct result of action” by China.

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said,” It is clear that the situation we witness over the past four months is a direct result of the actions taken by the Chinese side that sought to effect unilateral change of status quo”

The MEA spokesperson further added, “Indian troops pre-empted this PLA activity on the southern bank of Pangon Tso Lake, undertook measures to strengthen our positions and thwart Chinese intentions to unilaterally change facts on the ground,”.

“We reiterate the consensus reached between the two foreign ministers and secretaries that the situation in the border should be handled in a responsible manner and either side should not take any provocative action or escalate matters,” the MEA spokesperson said.

On June 15 Chinese troops ambushed Indian soldiers and in the ensuing battle, India lost 20 soldiers including Col Santosh Babu of Bihar regiment. It is still unknown how many Chinese soldiers had died and unconfirmed reports suggest it is somewhere between 35 to 50 casualties.

The post India takes strategic heights at Pangong Tso Lake, China requests meeting on sidelines of SCO appeared first on The Commune.

In a rapid mission to capture the North Finger 4 Ridgeline at Pangong Tso along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), units of the Indian Army along with the formidable Special Frontier Force (SFF) has mounted a mission that has left the PLA in total disarray, India Today has reported.

The Indian Army and the SFF which mostly comprises of Tibetans have now taken control of the Finger 4 feature on the north bank of Pangong Tso Lake. This is a strategic location and it is only a few hundred metres away from the Chinese posts.

This position has now given the Indian Army the all-important dominating heights on the ridgelines along Finger 4.

The report adds that the Indian Army has carried out a readjustment of deployment this week and established its posts on the Indian side of the LAC.

Whenever the Indian Army has gone on the offensive, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) had to move back. Earlier the army had gained a big advantage over the PLA by successfully beating it to occupy a strategic height at the southern region of the Pangong Tso Lake.

The post Indian Army along with SFF, captures Finger 4 Ridgeline along LAC appeared first on The Commune.