Claiming that the on-going stand-off between India and China at Doklam is a consequence of the China attempting to change the ‘status quo’, chief of the army staff General Bipin Rawat asked armed forces to be prepared for further challenges as such ‘incidents’ are likely to be increased.
Rawat was in Pune to deliver a lecture on the topic ‘India’s Challenges in the Current Geo- Strategic Construct’ at the General BC Joshi memorial lecture organised by the department of Defence and Strategic Studies of the Savitribai Phule Pune University on Saturday. Speaking about the current Doklam standoff, Rawat said, “Transgressions across the Line of Actual Control (LAC) sometimes happens and it leads to some kind of misunderstanding between forwarding troops.”
“Contested claims to the territory continues to exist due to the differing perceptions on the alignments of the LAC. However, we have a joint mechanism in place to address any situation,” Rawat added.
Claiming that incidents like Doklam standoff are likely to increase in future, Rawat said, “We should not be complacent. Once the current standoff is resolved, our troops should not feel that such situation will not arise again in future. It is always be prepared. My message to the troops is clear that do not let your guard down.”
Rawat also said that the Chinese armed forces have also made significant progress in enhancing their capabilities in terms of force mobilisation, application and sustenance of operations particularly in the Tibet autonomous region of China.
“Their (China) force reorganisation along with developing capabilities in space and network centric warfare is likely to provide them greater synergy in force application,” he said.
UNCERTAINTY
Talking about the India and China’s joint military exercise, Rawat said, “One year our team go to China and a year next to that their team comes to India. This year we have sent an invitation to China which is supposed to be held in October but so far we have not got any confirmation from the Chinese counter parts.”
