New Delhi: Making it clear that the main conflict between India and China concerns the border, Army Chief Gen Manoj Pande Monday said Beijing’s intent was to keep the ‘boundary issue’ alive.
Gen Pande, who took over as the Army chief on 30 April, said a “whole of nation” approach was needed to tackle China. In the military domain, this will prevent and counter any attempt to alter the status quo at the Line of Actual Control (LAC), he added.
His remarks came at a time when both countries have been involved in a two-year-old standoff that began in May 2020 in eastern Ladakh. It has led to the entire LAC becoming active with preventive deployment by both sides.
Speaking to a group of journalists at the Army headquarters in Delhi, the Army chief also said that India’s stand-off with China along its northern border was his “utmost concern”.
Gen Manoj Pande said that while India’s aim and intention was to restore the status quo ante as of April 2020 and to re-establish trust and tranquility at the LAC, it cannot be a “one-way affair”. The Print
