Apr. 25 – A Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) platoon has entered 10km into Indian territory in the Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) sector in Ladakh, located at an altitude of approximately 17,000 feet. The incursion occurred on the night of April 15th, when the PLA established a tented post there. As a result of the incursion, on Tuesday India and China conducted a flag meeting in the area, with the Indian party asking the Chinese side to revert to the status quo position.
On earlier occasions, Indian and Chinese troops have transgressed into each other’s territory due to different perceptions of where the Line of Actual Control (LAC) lays. It is also commonly stated by officials that the LAC is not properly demarcated in some areas.
India is now expected to send an Army contingent to the area to be on guard. The Indian Army had earlier sent a team of Ladakh Scouts (an infantry regiment specializing in mountain warfare) to the DBO sector (currently manned by the troops of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP)) soon after it was discovered that the Chinese troops had set up there.
The Indian government has said that additional troops may be deployed in the area if the situation does not return to normal and Chinese troops do not fall back back to their old position.
ITBP troops have also established a camp approximately 300m opposite the Chinese location and are monitoring developments. DBO, located in northernmost Ladakh, is an historic camp site and located on an ancient trade route connecting Ladakh to Yarkand in Xinjiang, China. The region is high mountain desert and ethnically Tibetan, although today it is largely uninhabited since the ancient trade routes have dried up under the Chinese rule of Tibet since 1959.
