CHIEF of Army Staff General Manoj Pande on Monday said transgressions remain the potential trigger for escalations along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China. He asserted India has adequate reserves and is prepared to deal with any contingency. He stated China has accrued significant capacities for force mobilisation, application, and sustenance of military operations and maintained that the long-pending boundary issue can not be divorced from bilateral relations between the two Asian giants. General Pande stated Chinese attempts to carry out transgressions across the LAC in violations of past agreements/protocols remain a matter of concern for India, but the Army’s preparedness remains of a high order, comments coming in the backdrop of the border standoff in eastern Ladakh that started in May 2020. He was speaking at the 2nd Strategic Dialogue on ‘Rise of China and its Implications for the World’, organized by the Savitribai Phule Pune University and the New Delhi-based Centre for China Analysis and Strategy.

“I think the most important aspect of our operational environment remains our legacy challenges of the unsettled and disputed borders. Pockets of dispute and contested claims to the territory continue to exist due to differing perceptions of the alignment of the Line of Actual Control. Transgressions remain the potential trigger for escalations,” the Chief of Army Staff cautioned. Hence, Sino-Indian border management requires close monitoring as infirmities can lead to a wider conflict, General Pande said. The decades-old boundary issue can not be divorced from bilateral relations, he asserted and went on to quote External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who had said, “for (India-China) ties to return to the positive trajectory and remain sustainable - they must be based on three mutual sensitivity, respect, and interest.”

New Delhi has repeatedly said, its ties with Beijing cannot be normal unless there is peace in the border areas. General Pande said, engagement mechanisms exist at political, diplomatic, and military levels which are optimally utilised to ensure stability along the LAC.