In this icy desert on the border of China's Tibet, one of the most secretive conflicts has been taking place in two years;
A war that hardly leaks any information, a war between the two Asian giants that share nearly 3,500 kilometers of border in the Himalayas, there where India and China are fighting over an unrecognized demarcation line called the "Line of Actual Control" they drew since 1962 after a blitzkrieg ended With the defeat of India and China's annexation of a large part of the territory of Ladakh, which became "Aksai Chin".
This is how the French newspaper Le Monde summarized - in a report by its correspondent in New Delhi, Sophie Landrin - the history of a bitter and continuous conflict between the two giants of Asia, noting that Beijing is still continuing to strengthen its positions by controlling parts of Indian lands, two years after the border events that occurred When the crisis suddenly exploded in the spring of 2020, and a limited number of soldiers clashed;
This resulted in a number of deaths on both sides, as more than 60,000 soldiers from both armies are now deployed on both sides of the Line of Control.
The reporter described the atmosphere of the Indian capital of Ladakh, which she said is living to the deafening rhythm of the exercises carried out by the Indian combat aircraft over the narrow and winding roads crowded with military trucks transporting food and equipment in the far north of India, in the Himalayas, at altitudes of more than 5,500 meters.
Negotiations are not progressing
According to the correspondent, 10 rounds of diplomatic talks and 16 military rounds led to a very limited disengagement, but the negotiations did not progress because the Chinese refuse to return to the pre-2020 situation, and carry out regular provocations, as their warplanes stationed in East Ladakh frequently fly near the Line of Actual Control, violating the 10-kilometre no-fly zone.
However, the most dangerous - according to the correspondent - is that the Chinese army built many infrastructure, roads, bunkers, watchtowers, airstrips and barracks, and even built bridges over Lake Pangong, to facilitate the passage of tanks and other armored vehicles, as confirmed by the Indian newspaper The Telegraph, quoting a report For the Indo-Tibetan Border Police that monitors the Line of Control.
Former officer Sushant Singh says that "the Chinese have seized more than 1,000 square kilometers of land claimed by India in eastern Ladakh since May 2020, and India is unable to repel the Chinese incursion."
Denouncing "the Narendra Modi government's shame towards Beijing", and believing that the Indian Prime Minister is trying at all costs to preserve his reputation as a "strong man".
The correspondence concluded with Professor Habimon Jacob of Jawaharlal Nehru University, that India must quickly learn the lessons of the situation in Taiwan and "formulate red lines and sovereign positions in an unambiguous manner", and must clearly highlight the Chinese threat to it. And to recognize the Chinese army's entry into its lands in 2020 and its occupation along the Line of Control, because concealing the reality and India's refraining from calling China the aggressor does not help mobilize the international community.