Indian Army had “again illegally crossed” the LAC, PLA claimed

In what could be a sign of further escalation of tension along India-China's Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of the communist country late on Monday claimed that it was forced to take “countermeasures” in response to the “warning shots” fired by the Indian Army personnel on its soldiers on the south bank of the Pangong Tso.

Senior Colonel Zhang Suili, a spokesperson of the PLA’s Western Theatre Command, alleged that the Indian Army had “again illegally crossed” the Line of Actual Control (LAC) on the south bank of Pangong Tso (lake) on Monday.

The Global Times, a media organization run by the Communist Party of China, quoted Sr Col Zhang in a post on Twitter, stating that the Indian Army personnel had “outrageously fired warning shots” on the PLA border patrol soldiers.


The PLA personnel were about to negotiate when they were fired upon by the Indian Army soldiers, the Global Times tweeted quoting Sr Col Zhang.

Neither the Indian Army nor the Ministry of Defence of the Government of India issued any statement on the Chinese PLA’s claim.

“India’s actions seriously violated the relevant agreements and agreements between China and India, pushing up regional tensions and easily causing misunderstandings and misjudgements,” the spokesperson of the PLA’s Western Theatre Command stated.

He termed the action of the Indian Army as “serious military provocations”.

He said that the Indian Army should immediately stop “dangerous actions” and pull back troops, who crossed the LAC and entered into the territory of China.

The PLA spokesperson also asked the Indian Army to “strictly restrain” its front-line troops, and “strictly investigate and punish personnel who fired shots” on the Chinese Army soldiers – in order to ensure that similar incidents do not occur again.

He also said that the PLA would resolutely perform its duties and missions and resolutely defend territorial sovereignty of China.

The Indian Army during August 29-30 night carried out an operation on the south bank of the Pangong Tso to pre-empt a fresh move by the Chinese PLA to cross the LAC and transgress into the territory of India.

The Indian Army personnel took over the mountaintops overlooking the Chinese PLA’s positions in the area, thus pre-empting the imminent incursion bid by the communist country’s soldiers.

The PLA over the past few weeks deployed a large number of troops in the area, apparently preparing to make a move towards the Indian Army’s base at Thakung on the south bank of the Pangong Tso.

The Chinese PLA already dug in heels on the northern bank of the lake and declined to withdraw troops to restore the status quo in the area – thus stalling the process of disengagement it had agreed with the Indian Army to end the stand-off, which started early May.