More clashes expected along Chinese border: Ladakh Police assessment

Leh: Indian and Chinese troops may be involved in more skirmishes along the Line of Actual Control according to a safety assessment by the Ladakh Police, reported Reuters.

The evaluation was included in a brand-new, private research document that the Ladakh Police presented at a conference of top police personnel from January 20 to 22.

According to the report, the warning was based on information provided by local police in the border regions and the historical pattern of military confrontations between China and India.

"Given the domestic compulsions ... in China and their economic interests in the region, the PLA would continue to build up its military infrastructure and skirmishes would also get frequent which may or may not follow a pattern,” as per the Ladakh police safety assessment report.

“If we analyse the pattern of skirmishes and tensions, the intensity has increased since 2013-2014 with an interval of every 2-3 years. With the massive infrastructure build up by PLA on the Chinese side both the armies are testing each other’s reaction, the strength of artillery and infantry mobilization time,” it added.

The year 2020 saw a bloody physical confrontation between Indian and Chinese forces in the eastern Ladakh region's Galwan Valley.

Twenty Indian soldiers, including a Colonel, lost their lives in the incident, and several others suffered severe injuries. During the fighting, the Chinese also lost a number of men.

More recently, the Chinese and Indian troops once again clashed in Arunachal Pradesh along the LAC last month on December 19.