KOLKATA/GANGTOK: A few weeks before the first ever India-China
military exercises, the real war games have begun. On November 8,
Chinese forces demolished some unmanned Indian forward posts near two
Army bunkers against which Beijing had raised objections since July.
"The Chinese came, destroyed the posts and went back," said an Army
officer. The incident is learned to have taken place around November 8.
The revelation came on the day a 12-member People's Liberation Army
delegation landed in Kolkata on a recce for the military exercises to be
held next month in China.
The destroyed posts were near the Sikkim-Bhutan-Tibet border
tri-junction. Intelligence sources in Gangtok on Friday said that a
"third bunker" located near the two disputed ones had been destroyed by
the Chinese. But, Army sources attached to formations overseeing the
location said the structures were fiberglass huts, which are manned by a
few soldiers when winter sets in.
Senior Army officers in Kolkata were tight-lipped about the incident,
particularly because the Chinese army delegation led by a senior colonel
is in the city. "I have nothing to comment," said a defence spokesman.
The two disputed bunkers at Doka La, near Torsa Nala, had been set up
about two years ago. The Chinese first objected to them in July, after
which a series of border personnel meetings took place till September.
Beijing wanted the bunkers to be shifted but the Indian Army stood its
ground and continued to man and arm the bunkers.
The Chinese were left smarting. It is believed the attack on the
unmanned posts earlier this month were carried out by the PLA "to show
their strength".
Indian officials feel if the Chinese had any objection against these
bunkers they should have lodged a protest soon after they were
established, or at least within a year.
Border disputes between China and India are nothing new, because China
does not recognise the border and even triggered a war over it.
Even
the Line of Actual Control is difficult to demarcate at places because
of the mountainous terrain. Two decades ago, in 1986, the two countries
had come perilously close to a skirmish in the Sumdorong Chu valley.
In view of the latest dispute, the visit of Defence Minister A K
Anthony and chief of Army staff Deepak Kapoor to Sikkim and north Bengal
during the weekend is being considered significant. They will land in
Siliguri on Saturday and visit the border at Nathu La on Sunday.
However, military observers believe confidence-building measures like
joint war exercises will prove instrumental in easing border tensions.
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