Q. Why have the Chinese come in the numbers that they have?
Many reasons have been attributed to the Chinese intrusions into eastern Ladakh since early May. Among them, one could be India’s administrative consolidation of its far territories after the abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of Ladakh from Jammu and Kashmir. As long as Ladakh was a part of J&K, China wasn’t a major factor and its stance remained muted. But post the events of August 5, 2019, the Chinese have been making belligerent noises, almost trying to convey that they have a stake in Ladakh. The government has of course clarified that our LAC with China will not change, but to me it looks like they suspect India’s narrative would change from the LAC dispute to making a new assertion on the 37,000 sq. km Aksai Chin plateau now under their illegal occupation. We have changed the entire discourse on the PoK region beyond the LoC with Pakistan and have reaffirmed legal claims on the entire Gilgit-Baltistan area (now part of Ladakh province). Now our map shows UT Ladakh with a 106 km land border directly with Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province. This may have hastened Pakistani and Chinese thinking.Read More…
