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‘Avoid such activities’: India-China military talks held over airspace violations
The military talks were held on Tuesday after the IAF countered several Chinese bids to provoke in the eastern Ladakh sector by violating air space and the confidence-building measure lines which mandate that both sides should fly fighter planes within 10 km of the LAC.
Amid reports of airspace violations and provocations by the Chinese side, India and China held a special round of military talks recently at the Chushul-Moldo border meeting point in Eastern Ladakh.
The talks were held on Tuesday after the Indian Air Force (IAF) countered several Chinese bids to provoke in the eastern Ladakh sector by violating air space and the confidence-building measure lines which mandate that both sides should fly fighter planes within 10 km of the LAC, news agency ANI reported.
"During the military talks, the Indian side strongly raised objections over the Chinese flying activities near Eastern Ladakh sector for over a month now and asked them to avoid such provocative activities," ANI quoted government sources as saying.
The talks between the two sides included IAF officers from both sides along with army representatives. While the IAF was represented by air commodore Amit Sharma from the Operations branch, the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) Air Force sent an equivalent rank officer for the discussions.
On the behalf of the Indian Army, a major general-rank officer under the Fire and Fury Corps attended the meeting, the report added.
Recently, IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari had said, "Whenever we find that Chinese aircraft or remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) are coming a little too close to the LAC, we take appropriate measures by scrambling our fighters or putting our systems on high alert. This has deterred them to quite an extent."
The air force elements of both countries are now likely to form part of the talks between the two countries at the Corps Commander level in future also.
The neighbouring nations have held 16 rounds of Corps commander-level talks between them to de-escalate the situation and tensions which began after the Chinese tried to alter the status quo on the LAC in 2020.
Till now, the talks led by the Fire and Fury Corps Commander from the Indian side have representatives from the ITBP and the ministry of external affairs.
The two sides have been able to resolve three friction points in eastern Ladakh and are holding discussions to find solutions for the Hot Springs area also.
The Chinese are discussing only the issues of boundary dispute which have emerged post-May 2020 and have refused to hold talks on legacy issues.
The Chinese have been complaining about the IAF upgrading its capability to detect Chinese Air Force aircraft operating within the territory controlled by them in the Tibet region. The confrontation between the two air forces started in June last week when on June 25, a PLAAF J-11 fighter aircraft flew very close to a friction point in Eastern Ladakh around 4 am and was picked up by both men on ground as well as radars.
The Chinese activities opposite the Chumar sector continued for over a month and the Indian Air Force responded strongly by scrambling its fighter aircraft including the Mirage 2000 and MiG-29s from its advance bases near the Ladakh region.
(With inputs from ANI)
