'China has gained a lot': Ex-army chief Naravane on PLA's tactics along LAC

Former Army Chief General MM Naravane on Wednesday said China has been trying to alter the status quo along the LAC for many years. They have been doing this in very small incremental steps but over a period of time, they have gained a lot, Naravane said in an interview with the news agency ANI. He said this is the tactic China has adopted and is continuing to do so.

"Their (Chinese PLA) long-term strategy has been the same - keep inching forward, keep probing us (India) for any possible weakness and if there is any, come sit there and say this is how it always was. So, every small probing action has to be contested," Naravane, who served as army chief from December 2019 to April 2022, said. 

The former army chief's comment comes just days after Chinese forces tried to change the status quo in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh. 

Chinese had also done the same in 2020 when they amassed a huge number of troops along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh. The Chinese PLA also entered the areas claimed by India. At that time, a deadly clash had taken place in the Galwan Valley, where India lost 20 soldiers. 

Today, the former army chief said that China has violated the 1993 border agreement time and again. He said during the clash in Galwan, the Indian army was not taken by surprise. 

However, he said, the army did not expect the Chinese to violate the agreement, which specifically states that there will be no unilateral change of status quo and no side will come with weapons and arms. "But if you are now coming with clubs with barbed wire, what does that mean? You violated the agreement," he said. 

Naravane said that transgressions by Chinese troops are not localised to only Eastern Ladakh. He said both countries have areas of different perceptions right from eastern Ladakh to Arunachal, and these transgressions are happening from time to time in various places, in eastern Ladakh, in Central sector Barahoti, in Sikkim, in Arunachal.

The former army chief also refuted the reports that Indian troops were not armed during the clash in Galwan.

India-China 1993 Agreement 

On September 7, 1993, India and China signed an agreement on the Maintenance of peace and tranquility along the Line of Actual Control (LA) in the border Areas. Under the agreement, they agreed that the boundary question shall be resolved through peaceful and friendly consultations and neither side shall use or threaten to use force against the other by any means.

The pact also states that pending an ultimate solution, the two sides shall strictly respect and observe the line of actual control between the two sides and no activities of either side shall overstep the line of actual control. In case personnel of one side cross the line of actual control, it mentions, upon being cautioned by the other side, they shall immediately pull back to their own side of the line of actual control.