India-China Border Dispute: Ministry Of Defence Document Reveals PLA Intrusions In May

Photo courtesy: The Financial Express

New Delhi: A new document on the website of the defence ministry, on Tuesday, has officially acknowledged that Chinese soldiers intruded into Indian territory in eastern Ladakh in May. This was amid the Line of Actual Control (LAC) tension at the face-off sites in Pangong Tso and Gogra despite five rounds of top-level military talks.

“The Chinese side transgressed in the areas of Kugrang Nala (near Patrolling Point-15, north of Hot Springs), Gogra (PP-17A) and the north bank of Pangong Tso on May 17-18,” said the document.

According to The Times of India report, the word ‘transgression’ — used by India as a euphemism for ‘intrusion’ across the Line of Actual Control with China — has not found mention in any official statement or document since the military confrontation erupted after the first clash between rival troops on the north bank of Pangong Tso on May 5-6. The document said the stand-off could be prolonged and the evolving situation may need prompt action.

However, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, in a television interview in May-end, had said a sizeable number of Chinese soldiers had ‘come a little further than they used to earlier’. But it was officially clarified that it should not be ‘misinterpreted as if Chinese troops entered the Indian side of the LAC’, said the report.