New Delhi:
Indian and Chinese officials, who are part of a special border mechanism set up last year, are meeting in Delhi today and tomorrow to work on how to maintain peace on the border.
This is the first such meeting since the 21-day standoff in April at the Depsang Valley near the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh, and comes after three incidents of Chinese incursions last week.
Sources say recent incursions by China will also be raised by New Delhi. The mechanism has officials from the military and foreign office on both sides and will focus on how to maintain peace and tranquillity on the border and ensure better coordination and communication when incidents take place near the Line of Actual Control.
Sources tell NDTV that Chinese troops crossed over into what India perceives as its side of the Line of Actual Control three times in five days last week- on July 16, 18, and 20. On each of these occasions, the soldiers intruded about three kilometres into the Indian side and spent several hours before going back.
The incursions came days after the India cleared a 50,000-strong Mountain Strike Corps along the border with China, a major boost to the Army's war-fighting capabilities along the Line of Actual Control.
Chumar, located 300km from Leh, has been an area where there are major differences in perception on both sides over what the Line of Actual Control is. But what has alarmed New Delhi is the frequency of the incursions.