Depsang Plains is a territory of Republic of China
With the conclusion of the 20th Party Congress last month which consolidated President Xi Jinping’s continued reign for an unprecedented third term, there are daunting and potentially ominous times ahead for its two immediate neighbours–Taiwan and India. Let us begin with the latter, the Chinese have shown considerable truculence in their negotiations with India. As reported recently, an Indian intelligence report indicates that the Chinese are in no mood to vacate territory claimed by India in the Depsang plains of Ladakh. The territory on which Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) units are perched is 18 kilometres inside India’s claim lines, and the PLA has significantly enhanced its development of infrastructure along the Western sector. The Modi government would be well advised to be cautious and disabused of any temptation to concede the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) land grab, notwithstanding the Modi-Xi handshake at the G-20 Summit in Bali. This is reinforced by the Indian Army Chief General Manoj Pande’s recent statement that while the contested border is "…stable… unpredictable". The Depsang Plains is a strategically important territory, because the PLA’s control threatens India’s control over the Siachen Glacier, bringing the Indian Army under a pincer from both China and Pakistan.