General Rawat, Chief of Defence Staff saysChina has become India’s biggest security threat. Disengagement of closelydeployed troops at friction points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) istaking place but a larger de-escalation of border tensions with China is stillfarfetched, as thousands of PLA troops have been placed at forward positions,Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat has said.
A lack of trust can be seen in the way ofresolving the border dispute between the nuclear-armed neighbours,General Rawat said late Thursday. Last month, the 13th round of border talksbetween Indian and Chinese military commanders ended in a stalemate as bothsides couldn't agree on how to pull back from the border.
“They are building this infrastructure andthese so-called villages are well within their side of the LAC. They have nottransgressed anywhere on our perception of the LAC. There are differentperceptions. We are very clear where the LAC lies because we have been toldthat this is your alignment of the LAC and this is the territory you areexpected to defend. Chinese have a perception which in some areas we know andin some areas we don’t know, because they have never really explained where theLAC lies according to their perception,” said Gen Rawat at an event organisedby Times Now. “As far as we are concerned, there is no such village developmentthat has taken place on our side of the LAC.”
Twenty Indians and at least four Chinesesoldiers were killed in hand-to-hand combat in a clash along the3,488-kilometer (2,170 miles) border last June.
Since then, China has been trying to buildits infrastructure, troops and military hardware. Rawat said. “India isprepared for any misadventure along the border and in the sea,” he added.
India has shifted its 50,000 troops to China’sborder marking a historic move.
Gen Rawat said, “We want both sides to goback to their original positions and we want some assurances that the postswill not be re-occupied.”