'Spooked' China wanted to prevent India-US deepening ties amid LAC tensions: Pentagon

Amid its tussle with China, the United States has revealed that the former attempted to prevent India from deepening its ties with Washington. The Pentagon in its report has stated that amid its border tensions with India, China 'continued taking incremental and tactical actions' to press its claims at the Line of Actual Control (LAC). In addition, it also stated that Beijing attempted to hinder New Delhi's relations with Washington.

"China has continued taking incremental and tactical actions to press its claims at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with India and has unsuccessfully sought to prevent New Delhi from deepening its relationship with the United States," the Pentagon report stated.

The Pentagon also informed that China is engaging in 'aggressive and coercive behaviour' with its neighbours mainly India. Moreover, China also deployed a 'substantial reserve force' from the Tibet and Xinjiang Military Districts in order to provide a rapid response to the border standoff, the Pentagon report added. 

The Pentagon has further confirmed that in 2020, China took an audacious step of building a large 100-home civilian village in a piece of 'disputed territory' between the Chinese Tibet Autonomous Region and India's Arunachal Pradesh state in the eastern sector of the LAC. It further informed that at the peak of the border standoff between the two sides in 2020, China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) even installed a fibre-optic network in the remote areas of the western Himalayas to provide faster communications and increased protection from foreign interception.

The report also mentions that PLA field commanders view near-real-time intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, and situational data as well as redundant and reliable communications as essential to streamlining decision-making processes and shortening response timelines.

LAC standoff continues as China refuses to budge 

The Indian Army in a recent statement revealed the details of the 13th round of Corps Commander-level talks between India and China that took place on Sunday. It stated that the discussions between the two sides focused on the resolution of the remaining issues along the LAC. Calling out the "unilateral attempts" by the People's Liberation Army to alter the status quo, it recalled that External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had agreed in their recent meeting in Dushanbe to resolve the remaining issues at the earliest. 

"The Indian side pointed out that the situation along the LAC had been caused by unilateral attempts of the Chinese side to alter the status quo and in violation of the bilateral agreements".

It added, "During the meeting, the Indian side, therefore, made constructive suggestions for resolving the remaining areas but the Chinese side was not agreeable and also could not provide any forward-looking proposals. The meeting thus did not result in resolution of the remaining areas."  

The Indian Army statement informed that both sides have agreed to maintain communications and stability on the ground. The Indian Army expressed hope that the Chinese side will work towards the early resolution of the remaining issues in the interest of bilateral relations between the two countries. So far, the armies of India and China have disengaged from two places, including north and south of Pangong Tso.