CHINA has been resorting to the “salami slicing” tactic along the Line of Actual Control to gain territory in a gradual manner and this has led to a “more assertive” response from the Indian Army, former Army chief General M M Naravane has said and noted that attempts to change status quo along the LAC have been thwarted.

In ‘Podcast with Smita Prakash’, General Naravane said the Chinese army has been trying to alter the status quo along LAC in very “small incremental steps”. His remarks came days after the attempts by People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops to transgress the LAC in Yangtse area of Tawang Sector in Arunachal Pradesh with the Indian Army thwarting the attempt to change the status quo.

“China has been trying to alter the status quo along the LAC for many years, decades in fact, and they have been doing this in very small incremental steps which by themselves do not look very dangerous. They look quite innocuous. What we call salami slicing, coming up one inch at a time. But in the bargain over a period of time they have gained a lot. This is the tactics they have adopted and were continuing to do,” General Naravane said.

“There was a time to say this much and no further. So that is what actually happened as they kept trying to probe especially north of the Panong Tso (lake in Ladakh). They come time and again and then they want to make it a historical fact that we have been coming here. They tried to alter the status quo as it is existing,” he added.

With China and India having a differing perception of LAC in certain areas, General Naravane said in the two sides patrol upto their perception line but there have been attempts by China to impede this in some areas

“We also patrol upto our perception line, they come up to their perception line. But while this is happening, if the patrols come face to face at the same time, then obviously there is a chance of a clash happening,” General Naravane said.

Asked about the Galwan clash in eastern Ladakh in which 20 Indian soldiers lost their lives in May 2020, General Naravane, who was then the Army Chief, said that the Chinese Army was not “allowing” the Indian Army to patrol to the usual point and triggered a more assertive response from the Indian side.