What does the Backside of Retreating Chinese SOLDIERS Indicate?

 

So my effort is Not to make the pull back of Chinese ; a mole hill into a mountain but to point out as to how this is likely to be percieved by people and by various Governments around.

As Joan of Arc had once said : All battles are first won or lost, in the mind.. if you have lost it in mind you will surely lose it on ground.

so, Perception  or How one percieves a situation becomes important and can make a difference between victory and loss.

The Govts world over have been resorting to various means to manipulate the people’s perception in their favours.

The disengagement process thus can also be percieved differently. 

China was in a habit of nibbling area inch by inch, feet by feet, mile by mile. It did it in Mongolia, with Vietnam, in South China sea and had been doing it with Bharat since 1950s and surprisingly was getting away without any reprisal.

However, few soldiers at Galwan changed the trend. 

When a reporter asked an injured jawan who was nursing his injuries in a Military hospital after Galwan incdent , as to why did they hit the Chinese troops so brutally? He simply remarked ;

UNKO CO SAHAB PEY HAATH NAHIN UTHAANA CHAIYE THA. (They shouldn’t have hit our Commanding Officer).

Once the Chinese were brutally hit by Bhartiya troops at Galwan, the tables were turned.

Hence when the Chinese decided to make deeper ingress, the Indian army was ready and took a preemptive maneuver by occupying a few strategic heights , six of them, before Chinese could do so. 

Now when the Bhartiya Govt could release the names of soldiers who died and injured in the scuffle, the Chinese could not do so as they perhaps had suffered more casualties, and revealing this would have caused, the would be, super power a greater embarrassment.

Thereafter, the preemptive move of Indian army by occupying dominating heights did further damage to the Chinese reputation.

By then India could garner enough International support in its favour as China had been in diplomatic confrontation with a number of countries since it was accused of not controlling the coronavirus outbreak effectively,  USA also moved its fleet in South China sea. Beijing’s reported nervousness regarding the The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or Quad involving the Australian, Japanese and US navies, also played its important role and so China was not in a position to further their designs in Ladakh as they realised International support was not in their favour. 

Realizing that Mountains offer innumerable advantages to a defender and capabilities of battle hardened Indian armed forces, China perhaps finally decided that it is futile to go any further and so after almost a year plus and Nine Round of talks agreed to withdraw.

If the Chinese took Bharat by surprise in Mar 2020, Bharat took them by surprise by standing firm and launching a preemptive move and occupying strategic heights. 

This as a backdrop, the pictures of Chinese troops marching back and army trucks driving back, might have come as a welcome relief to Bhartiya Govt but in my opinion this pull back has done more damage to China and made Indian army a hero and has also improved the status of Bharat amongst the comity of nations particularly the smaller island nations in IOR( Indian Ocean Region) and India’s neighbourhood who were apprehensive of antagonizing China. 

The Indian armed forces that stood its ground steadfastly against the numerically superior PLA and delivered a solid blow at Galwan and by occupying strategic heights, conveyed a message to the whole world. Consequently, these pics of Chinese trucks and troops marching back have helped creating a perception that this round has gone to Bharat.

The entire world views China as an expansionist power which believes in nibbling area and then refuses to vacate territories, whether it is in South Asia or the South China Sea, The disengagement in Ladakh underlines India’s strong will power, its military might and focused eco-strategic diplomacy, backed by a strong leadership. 

Till now, we had witnessed situations in which China used to test India’s patience, this was the first time, atleast this is what the pics indicate that India made China blink and forced it to withdraw its troops and Bharat has broken China’s arrogance. 

Although, Gen Hooda, the erstwhile Army Commander , said that ; it would take a while for the two nations to rebuild trust and put in place new agreements” . In my opinion,  however, The crisis has already led to a great deal of mistrust and it is unlikely that anyone in Bharat will now dare to call China as a mere Competitor.

Notwithstanding the above, some Indian experts said the development meant the Indian government had accepted Beijing’s position over the contested territory and turned a blind eye towards Depsang build up and Some experts commented that China has been granted right to patrol to finger 4, which means LAC effectively shifted from finger 8 to finger 4 and some blamed such experts of deliberately creating confusion. 

However, if one goes by the Def Minister Rajnath Singh’s statement in parliament, that both sides have agreed that neither will patrol the intervening area after the mutual withdrawals, till an agreement is reached through future talks, it’s surely an unambiguous acknowledgement that a ‘Grey Area’ or ‘No Man’s Land’ has existed between the two countries’ which was often described by Indian commanders and Diplomats as Perceptional difference or conflicting definitions of the LAC, has now now been formaly recognized and elevated to the status of a ‘buffer zone’.

This implies that till now when both Chinese and Indian patrols were entering “No Man’s Land” frequently, and waving placards stating that ‘This is Chinese/Indian Territory, please withdraw’ at each other when they met, now neither side will enter it till the misunderstandings and apprehensions that have arisen between the two countries are cleared through talks.

 

In such a situation, one can perceive that Bharat has given up patrolling in some areas and Chinese are still there at Depsang and so the Govt has chickened out . However, the same can be perceived in a different manner as well ; 

The recognition of NO MAN’S LAND and decision that No army will enter that area till the LAC is defined is a major break through as China has forfeited as much of its claimed right to patrol as India has and such scuffles that became a norm in recent years are not likely to take place in future as Both sides have now agreed to the existence of NO MAN’S LAND. And as the Chinese have pulled back, Bharat has stood firm against Chinese evil designs and thwarted yet another Chinese attempt of grabbing Bhartiya territory.