Major reduction of Chinese troops in Doklam: Army chief Bipin Rawat
NEW DELHI : Army Chief General Rawat said a Border Personnel Meeting (BPM) took place “two days back” on the issue.
Talking about the situation along the India-China border in Sikkim sector, where the two countries were involved in a 73-day-long standoff in Doklam, he said there was a major reduction in the number of troops on the Chinese side.
There had been a major reduction in the Chinese troops at the Doklam plateau region between India and China, after a truce was called last year.
The 73-day Doklam stand-off came to an end on August 28 after the two sides agreed to withdraw their respective troops from the plateau and the Chinese troops stopped building a key road close to India’s corridor. The road was being built by China in an area also claimed by Bhutan.Commenting on reported intrusion of Chinese in Arunachal Pradesh, General Rawat said that the matter “has been sorted out”.”There has been a very major reduction (of troops) from the Chinese side,” he told the media.
“It has been sorted out and we have had our border personnel meeting after that,” he said, when asked about the Arunachal Pradesh intrusion.Earlier in the day while addressing a seminar on the Army technology, Rawat said that the Army “would like to” move away from imports in defence technology and “fight the next war” with homemade solutions.
“We would like to gradually move away from imports (in defence technology), because for a nation like ours, the time has come to ensure that we fight the next war with homemade solutions,” he said. The transgression incident in Arunachal Pradesh, where Chinese workers entered Indian territory constructing a track, has been resolved, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said on Monday.He also said that there was a major reduction in the number of Chinese troops in the Doklam area. Speaking on the sidelines of an event here, the Army Chief said the “Tuting incident has been resolved”.
A Chinese road construction party entered India on December 26, 2017, and were constructing a track, around two kilometres away from the nearest Indo-Tibetan Border Police post. An almost 600-metre-long and 12-feet wide track was constructed on the Indian territory when the Chinese party was stopped.
The Chinese labourers had entered the area inadvertently, according to a government report on the incident. The Chinese People`s Liberation Army (PLA) troops were not involved in the incident. Indian troops pushed back the labourers and seized their equipment.The incident came nearly four months after the end of the Dokalam standoff that went on from June 16 to August 28, 2017.
Earlier, speaking at the Army Technology Summit here, General Rawat pitched for modernisation of the force and said India needed to be ready for “future wars”.”There is a huge requirement of modernisation of our armed forces, in every field,” he said.”Future wars will be fought in difficult terrains and circumstances and we have to be prepared for them. “We would like to gradually move away from imports (in defence technology) because for a nation like ours, the time has come to ensure that we fight the next war with home-made solutions,” he said.(With Agency Inputs ).
