New Delhi: The situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China is stable yet unpredictable, India’s Army Chief Gen. Manoj Pande said Thursday, adding that India has ramped up infrastructure development along the border and deployed adequate troops and equipment to deal with any contingency.
“I would say the situation is stable and under control, yet unpredictable,” he said.
Addressing the media ahead of the Army Day on January 15, Gen. Pande said both countries have been able to resolve five of the seven issues along the LAC and continue to hold talks at the military and diplomatic levels.
Gen. Manoj Pande said that the countries were continuing to talk both at the diplomatic and military levels, and that India’s military maintains a high level of preparedness. “We have adequate forces. We have adequate reserves in each of our sectors to be able to effectively deal with any situation or contingency,” Pande said.
In the eastern sector, he said there has been a slight increase in the deployment of Chinese troops, but the Indian Army soldiers, including reserves, have been adequately deployed there to take care of any situation.
Pande added that the Russia-Ukraine conflict has impacted the supply of spare parts for India’s military but did not provide more details. He also spoke about India’s reliance on equipment from these countries.
“The sustenance of these weapons systems — equipment in terms of spares, in terms of ammunition — is one issue that we have addressed,” he said.
Experts say up to 60 percent of Indian defense equipment comes from Russia, and New Delhi finds itself in a bind amid the standoff with China over a territorial dispute. Twenty Indian troops and four Chinese soldiers died in a clash in 2020.
India says China occupies 15,000 square miles of its territory in the Aksai Chin Plateau, which India considers part of Ladakh, where the current face-off is happening.
