Delhi: In February 2021, Delhi and Beijing agreed to withdraw troops from the 135-kilometer-long Pangong Lake, establishing buffer zones until all outstanding border issues were resolved. Since 2020, over 50,000 soldiers with advanced weapons have been stationed at forward posts along the LAC to prevent a change in the status quo.
A video broadcast by China's state media network CCTV shows the People's Liberation Army conducting a military exercise with attack helicopters over the contentious Pangong Lake.
The video shows an army aviation brigade attached to the PLA Xinjiang Military Command conducting an exercise at an altitude of nearly 4,350 metres over the world's highest saltwater lake, Pangong Lake. According to China's state media, Z-10 attack helicopters participated in the drills for the first time, whereas previously only transport helicopters carried border defence troops on patrol missions.
On Monday evening, Delhi and Beijing issued a joint statement in which they stated that both sides had agreed to maintain "security and stability" on the ground in the Western Sector along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) — a shakily demarcated boundary separating the two Asian giants. "The two sides agreed to maintain close contact and dialogue through military and diplomatic channels in order to work out a mutually acceptable resolution of the remaining issues as soon as possible," the statement continued.
To defuse tensions, India reportedly proposed a "comprehensive disengagement and de-escalation."
It was a rare meeting between Xi Jinping, who returned to the region after an eight-year absence, and troops involved in the ongoing border standoff with India in Eastern Ladakh, including Galwan Valley regiment commander Qi Fabao. Twenty Indian soldiers and four PLA troops were killed in the border clash on June 15, 2020, the first casualties since 1975.
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