On Saturday, August 29, President Xi Jinping told senior leaders that China must build an “impregnable fortress” to maintain stability in Tibet, protect national unity and educate the masses in the struggle against “splittism”. The same night, PLA troops carried out provocative military movements south of the Pangong Tso, prompting India to take pre-emptive action and undertake measures to strengthen positions “to thwart Chinese intentions”.
The latest Chinese action, and India’s pre-emptive move comes in the backdrop of deadlocked diplomatic-military talks in resolving the four-month-old violent face-offs between Indian and Chinese troops at Depsang, Galwan, Hot Springs and Finger areas on the north bank of Pangong Tso. Several rounds of military negotiations, Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) meetings, including the last one on August 20, have yielded no worthwhile result. One Special Representative level phone call on July 5, 2020, too, has not helped.
On the ground, China has been actively...
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