evidence: The beginning of the three-week standoff between India and China in the Depsang plain was as sudden as its ending. On April 15, an Indian patrol found that a Chinese platoon had established a camp in what was clearly the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control. On the evening of May 5, after weeks of consultations and flag meetings, the Chinese and Indian sides agreed to restore status quo ante in the area, which essentially meant that the Chinese removed the five tents they had set up on April 15. [...] The Chinese action can be seen at three levels- one as a straightforward land grab, and two instances of signalling. The first is an established pattern where the PLA keeps nibbling at Indian territory to create new "facts on the ground" or a "new normal" in relation to their claimed LAC. They do this, as they have done in the past-- occupy an area, then assert that it has always been part of their territory and offer to negotiate. In this very sector, Chinese claim lines have been varying since 1956. At that time, for example, the entire Chip Chap and Galwan river valleys were accepted by China as being Indian territory. But in 1960 China insisted that these areas were within their claim line and they occupied them following the 1962 war. The April 2013 Depsang encampment seemed to be pushing even further westward.