After PLA construction video emerges; Army sources say 'it was shot in Chinese territory'

After a video was cited to claim that China's People Liberation Army is engaged in construction work in Arunachal Pradesh, the Indian Army sources rubbished this. The video accessed by Republic TV was shot by locals in the Anjaw district of the state. In the video, PLA personnel are seen working with machines allegedly near Hadigara-Delta 6 in Chaglagam which is at the border. They were constructing a helipad as well, as per sources. Meanwhile, sources in the Eastern Command confirmed that the video was shot recently. The construction video assumes significance amid the ongoing faceoff at the Line of Actual Control. 

LAC faceoff lingers on

The faceoff at the Line of Actual Control was exacerbated when 21 Indian Army soldiers including a Commanding Officer were martyred in the Galwan Valley on June 15, 2020, when the de-escalation process was underway. The Galwan Valley clash was followed by multiple attempts of provocation by the Chinese side at the end of August 2020. Multiple rounds of military commander-level and Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs(WMCC) meetings have taken place between the two sides to resolve the crisis.

Besides this, EAM S Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh have met their respective counterparts. So far, the armies of India and China have disengaged from multiple places, including north and south of Pangong Tso and Gogra. India has been looking forward to ensuring the disengagement in the remaining areas along the LAC such as Hot Springs and Depsang at the earliest. In March, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval in India. Sources indicated they called for removing impediments to allow the bilateral relationship to take its natural course. 

Sources also revealed that both Doval and Wang affirmed the need to continue positive interactions at diplomatic and military levels for the restoration of peace and tranquillity, which is a prerequisite for normalization. On July 7, Jaishankar met Wang Yi on the sidelines of a conclave of the Foreign Ministers of the G20 nations. In this meeting, the EAM reaffirmed the importance of "fully abiding" by bilateral agreements and protocols, and the understandings reached between him and Wang in their previous conversations. While India and China held the 16th round of military talks on July 17, there was no concrete breakthrough.