China Deploys More Patrol Boats To Ladakh’s Pangong Tso Lake As Tensions With India Soar

The Chinese offensive against India in Ladakh has witnessed a new escalation with the nation having stepped up patrols and deployed more boats on the Pangong Tso lake, reports The Indian Express.

The lake which is situated in Eastern Ladakh had witnessed the Indian and Chinese troops come to clash two weeks ago. With the increasing tension in the region between the Indian and Chinese troops, the situation is likely to vitiate.

While the Chinese have increased the number of boats deployed on the lake, their patrolling behaviour is also said to have grown aggressive. Also, while China had deployed three boats on the lake earlier, Indian Army had also deployed a similar number of boats to assert its domination over the 45 kilometre-long western portion of the lake which lies under Indian control.

“Nearly one-third of Chinese transgressions in the western sector (of the LAC) happen in Pangong Tso. Not only have they substantially increased the number of boats on the lake, their patrolling behaviour is increasingly more aggressive. It is not a healthy thing when you consider what has been going on in the Finger Area since late April,” sources quoted by The Indian Express said.

It should also be noted that the Chinese have objected to a vehicle track being built by India in the same region. So far, Indian Army's troopers have been carrying out patrolling on foot, while the Chinese troopers patrol the region in light vehicles on a motorable road which they had built during the Kargil war when Indian troopers had been engaged in the eviction of Pakistan from its territory.