Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi: ‘With China, You Have to Compete,’ LAC Situation ‘Not Normal’

Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi: ‘With China, You Have to Compete,’ LAC Situation ‘Not Normal’

The situation at the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the de facto boundary between China and India, has been characterized by Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi as “sensitive” and “not normal.” He stressed that although things are now stable, India wants to go back to the way things were before April 2020 while speaking at the Chanakya Defence Dialogue.

Chinese armies attempted to breach the Indian side of the Line of Artemisia in April 2020, but Indian defenders successfully resisted their advance. But since then, there have continued to be problems in the eastern Ladakh region. China’s disruptive tactics have negatively harmed diplomatic relations with the United States, according to General Dwivedi. S. Jaishankar, the minister of external affairs, recently referred to India’s diplomatic relations with China as “very significantly disturbed.”

The Army Chief referred to the loss of confidence between the Chinese and Indian forces at the LAC as the “biggest casualty.” “You have to compete, cooperate, coexist, confront, and contest with China,” he clarified. Although stable, the current state of affairs is unusual and delicate.”

To end the deadlock, India and China have held several rounds of diplomatic negotiations, including two meetings in July and August. A comprehensive answer is still elusive, though. While diplomatic efforts have produced possibilities, General Dwivedi emphasized that real progress on the ground depended on military commanders on both sides.

In addition, he drew attention to China’s continuous development of communities along the LAC, branding it as “artificial immigration” and speculating about the possibility of a military maneuver along the lines of China’s actions in the South China Sea. Along the border, model villages in India are being developed with greater cooperation between the military, state governments, and the federal government. The Chief of the Army expressed confidence in these advances.

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India’s National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval, and China’s Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, met during the BRICS conference last month. Redoubling their efforts to disengage at the remaining spots of contention in eastern Ladakh was the commitment made by both parties.