Avoid flying activities within 10km of LAC in Eastern Ladakh, India tells China | India News

NEW DELHI: India has strongly protested Chinese combat jets flying close to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh during a military level talks between the two sides earlier this week.
India’s concerns were conveyed during a special round of talks at the Chushul-Moldo border point on August 2, official sources said.
The Indian delegation was represented by an Air Commodore and senior Army officials. The Chinese team also deployed a senior official from the People’s Liberation Army(PLA) Air Force.
The Indian side pressed for avoiding flying activities within 10km of the LAC on both sides, and the need for confidence-building measures to avoid any untoward incident, sources said.
This comes just over a month after Indian Air Force scrambled jets in response to Chinese combat aircraft spotted flying close to the LAC.

A Chinese J-11 fighter jet flew close to the LAC in eastern Ladakh in the last week of June. There were reports of similar incidents earlier as well.
India and China have engaged in several rounds of military and diplomatic level talks following the deadly Galwan clash of June 2020. However this was the first time in the recent past that an IAF officer joined the talks, sources said.

The eastern Ladakh border standoff erupted on May 5, 2020, following a violent clash in the Pangong lake areas. Both sides gradually enhanced their deployment by rushing in tens of thousands of soldiers as well as heavy weaponry.
The Galwan clash of June 15, 2020 saw 20 Indian soldiers being martyred, when PLA soldiers attacked with deadly hand-held weapons. However no fire arm was used. This was the first combat fatalities at the border in several decades.
By various reports, the Chinese side also suffered at least 35 casualties; but there has been no official acknowledgement from the PLA.

The 16 rounds of military and diplomatic-level talks since then have had limited success, with several friction points still unresolved.
However the two sides had completed the disengagement process last year on the north and south banks of the Pangong lake and in the Gogra area. Each side currently has around 50,000 to 60,000 troops along the LAC in the sensitive sector.
(With PTI inputs)