Washington: The US Pentagon has said that China continues to amass forces and build military infrastructure across the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with India.
Addressing a briefing, Brigadier General Pat Ryder, Press Secretary of the Department of Defense (DoD), said the DoD continues to closely watch developments along the line of actual control at the India-China border.
“We have seen the PRC continue to amass forces and build military infrastructure along the so-called LAC. But I would defer you to India in terms of their views.
“It does reflect though, and it’s important to point out, the growing trend by the PRC to assert itself and to be provocative in areas directed towards US allies and our partners in the Indo Pacific.
“And we will continue to remain steadfast in our commitment to ensuring the security of our partners. And we fully support India’s ongoing efforts to deescalate this situation,” he added.
Ryder’s remarks came as a response to a series of queries on the recent clashes between Indian and Chinese soldiers along the LAC in Arunachal Pradesh.
The clashes were the first in nearly two years.
The queries posed to the spokesperson was: “How much is the Pentagon concerned that this clash could lead to a bigger military confrontation? Is the Pentagon willing to provide more military support to India to help them handle China’s military threats at the border?”
On December 9, troops from China’s People’s Liberation of Army the LAC in Arunachal Pradesh, but Indian soldiers firmly contested their way, leading to a clash between the two.
Sources said that although no loss of life or major injuries were reported but both some Indian and Chinese troops received some minor injuries.
Amid clash with PLA, IAF, Army to conduct training exercises in NE
The Indian Air Force (IAF) will conduct an exercise near the India-China border on December 15 and 16, an IAF officer said on Wednesday.
Air bases in Assam’s Tezpur, Chhabua, Jorhat and West Bengal’s Hashimara are likely to be activated in the exercise, the official said.
This will be a command level exercise planned by the IAF’s Eastern Command to test the capabilities of the IAF on the China front. Fighter jets, transport aircraft, helicopters, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles will participate in the exercise.
Amid the recent clash with the Chinese army in Arunachal Pradesh, the Indian Army are also going to launch a joint military training exercise in the Northeast with Kazakhstan.
A Defence Ministry official said that the 6th Edition of Indo-Kazakhstan joint training exercise “KAZIND-22” will be conducted in Meghalaya’s Umroi from December 15 to 28.
According to Indian military officials, the scope of this exercise involves a Command Post Exercise (CPX) at the battalion level and company-level Field Training Exercise (FTX) on sub-conventional operations. During the exercise, participants will engage in variety of missions ranging from joint planning, joint tactical drills, basics of special arms skills, HADR and raiding a hostile target.
Kazakhstan Army soldiers comprising of troops from the Regional Command, South and Indian Army soldiers from the 11 Gorkha Rifles will be participating in the exercise.
The aim of the exercise is to build positive military relations, imbibe each other’s best practices and promote the ability to operate together while undertaking counter-terrorist operations in semi-urban and jungle scenario, under a UN peace enforcement mandate. This joint exercise will enable the two armies to train, plan and execute a series of combined tactical drills for neutralising of likely threats that may be encountered in UN peace keeping operations, the Indian military said.
“Exercise KAZIND” will enhance the level of defence cooperation between Indian Army and Kazakhstan Army which will further foster the bilateral relations between the two nations, military official added.
The joint annual training exercise with the Kazakhstan Army was instituted in 2016 as “Exercise Prabal Dostyk”, which was later upgraded to a company level exercise and renamed as “Ex KAZIND” in 2018.
