India sends high-power boats to match heavier Chinese vessels while patrolling Pangong Tso lake

The Indian Navy is forwardly deployed on its eastern and western seaboards with its naval fleets monitoring the movement of ships from Andamans Sea to Persian Gulf to prevent any untoward activity  

Jammu: As the Chinese aggression at the Pangong Tso lake in Eastern Ladakh continues, India is sending at least a dozen top of the line surveillance capable, high-powered and larger capacity steel boats for patrolling purposes as reported by a popular website.

Indian Navy is sending a dozen high-powered, bigger capacity and top of the line surveillance equipped steel boats to Ladakh so that the Indian Army can patrol Pangong Tso and match the heavier Type 928 B vessels of the Chinese Army lake fleet.

The Pangong Tso lake is at the centre of People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aggression in East Ladakh with the Chinese attempting to bully India into ceding territory on both the banks and deliberately pushing the Modi government into retaliatory mode.

The move comes even as military level talks between the two countries were held on Tuesday (30 June) at Chushul on the Indian side, to defuse tensions and discuss possibilities of de-escalation.

The meeting between India's Leh Corps Commander and Chinese Xinjiang Military district head is said to have been cordial and various aspects of disengagement along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) were discussed.

Earlier this week, as per the report, the three-armed forces took the decision to deploy boats at Pangong Tso and the Navy was tasked with the transportation of the vessels to Leh through C-17 heavy lifters, on priority.

Apart from signalling Indian intent to stand up strong to any Chinese provocation, the heavier vessels will not be pushed around in the water by the PLA boat fleet. Even though there are some logistical issues in transporting the huge boats by plane, solutions are being worked out by both Indian Navy and Army.

The report suggests, continuous deployment of troops, artillery and other equipment reflects India's will to stand up to any Chinese aggression and that while the Indian forces are committed to not escalate any conflict from their side, they are prepared to respond to the Chinese PLA upon being provoked.