Repeated China incursions indicate territorial dispute with India, says JNU professor

Taking a cue from the repeated Chinese incursions along the Indian border, Srikanth Kondapalli, a professor of Chinese studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) said that China is sending a signal regarding some territorial dispute.

"Chumar is an extended claim area for China. For the last five or six years, there have been a number of transgressions in the chumar area. It indicates that it's a claimed area and there is a certain territorial dispute regarding some area. So we are seeing transgressions by the patrols in this area but not very large scale transgressions," he said.

There are eight areas in the western sector where the transgressions are high. These include Depsang plains, Daulat beg oldi, Demchok, Chumar and even trigonomentric heights. It indicates that China is sending a signal that this is an extended disputed area and regarding the territorial dispute resolution as well both the militaries, this issue needs to be discussed at the formal track one level. So China is sending a signal by such helicopter intrusions or the transgressions," he added.

On the issue of the Chinese army helicopters violating Indian airspace on July 11 in Chumar, he said that the Indian army had already clarified that the Chinese helicopters did not intrude into the Indian airspace and remained closer to the Chinese airspace.

"Indian army had clarified this position yesterday, so the suggestion that there is a face off between the two armed forces is not correct. Of course there are transgressions, there are psychological pressures building up, but this not going to lead into a major skirmish between the two countries, "he said.

Array

According to media reports, two Chinese Army helicopters violated Indian airspace on July 11 in the Chumar sector in Ladakh, days after their soldiers intruded and took away an Indian surveillance camera. The PLA choppers violated Indian airspace in the Chumar sector on July 11 around 0800 hours and returned after flying for some time there, sources said.

Array

However, army sources played down the incident, claiming the two People's Liberation Army (PLA) choppers were only flying close to the Indian airspace and had not entered inside our territory.

Chumar has seen a number of incursion incidents in the recent past including an incident on June 17 where Chinese troops took away an Army surveillance camera meant for keeping an eye on the PLA troops patrolling there.