NEW DELHI: India is "cautiously optimistic" about the ongoing diplomatic-military talks with China to peacefully resolve the troop confrontation in eastern Ladakh , defence minister Rajnath Singh said on Friday, while at the same time expressing full confidence in the Army to tackle any contingency if things go south along the frontier.
"Our optimism" about the talks with China is "dependent" on "actual progress" being made on the ground in terms of troop disengagement in eastern Ladakh, Singh said, addressing the Army commanders' conference at Gangtok.
India has been pushing China for the sequential process of first disengagement at the two remaining face-off sites at Depsang and Demchok, followed by de-escalation and then de-induction of its 50,000 forward deployed troops along the line of actual control (LAC) there.
Singh's statement came against the backdrop of China's propensity for double-speak, with there often being a yawning gap between what it says and what it does on the ground, ever since the People's Liberation Army made multiple incursions into eastern Ladakh in April-May 2020.
Singh was slated to attend the Army commanders' conference chaired by General Upendra Dwivedi at Gangtok but addressed it through videoconferencing from Sukna in Darjeeling due to bad weather.
The conference being held near the China border for the first time was itself a message to China, which has raised the stakes in the eastern sector (Sikkim, Arunachal) of LAC as well by deploying another 90,000 soldiers there.
Gen Dwivedi himself had struck a note of caution earlier this month, stressing that "trust has become the biggest casualty" with China, with the situation being "stable but sensitive and not normal" along the LAC.
While "positive signaling" has come out from the flurry of political-diplomatic meetings over the last two months, the execution of any plan will depend on military commanders on the ground, he said.
Consequently, even as the Army will maintain its soldiers in forward locations for the fifth successive winter in the forbidding terrain of eastern Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh-Sikkim, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is also working hard to narrow the huge border infrastructure differential with China.
At a ceremony in Sikkim on Saturday, Singh will inaugurate 22 roads, 51 bridges and two other projects constructed by the BRO for Rs 2,236 crore. Among the projects, 19 are in J&K, 18 in Arunachal Pradesh, 11 in Ladakh, 9 in Uttarakhand and 6 in Sikkim.
Singh on Friday also said the armed forces must be prepared for "asymmetric warfare", which has been brought home by ongoing conflicts in the present "complex and ambiguous world situation".
"Unconventional and asymmetric warfare, including hybrid war, will be part of future conventional wars. This necessitates that armed forces should keep all these facets in consideration while formulating strategies. Be alert, regularly modernise and prepare continuously for various contingencies," Singh said.
"Our optimism" about the talks with China is "dependent" on "actual progress" being made on the ground in terms of troop disengagement in eastern Ladakh, Singh said, addressing the Army commanders' conference at Gangtok.
India has been pushing China for the sequential process of first disengagement at the two remaining face-off sites at Depsang and Demchok, followed by de-escalation and then de-induction of its 50,000 forward deployed troops along the line of actual control (LAC) there.
Singh's statement came against the backdrop of China's propensity for double-speak, with there often being a yawning gap between what it says and what it does on the ground, ever since the People's Liberation Army made multiple incursions into eastern Ladakh in April-May 2020.
Singh was slated to attend the Army commanders' conference chaired by General Upendra Dwivedi at Gangtok but addressed it through videoconferencing from Sukna in Darjeeling due to bad weather.
The conference being held near the China border for the first time was itself a message to China, which has raised the stakes in the eastern sector (Sikkim, Arunachal) of LAC as well by deploying another 90,000 soldiers there.
Gen Dwivedi himself had struck a note of caution earlier this month, stressing that "trust has become the biggest casualty" with China, with the situation being "stable but sensitive and not normal" along the LAC.
While "positive signaling" has come out from the flurry of political-diplomatic meetings over the last two months, the execution of any plan will depend on military commanders on the ground, he said.
Consequently, even as the Army will maintain its soldiers in forward locations for the fifth successive winter in the forbidding terrain of eastern Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh-Sikkim, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is also working hard to narrow the huge border infrastructure differential with China.
At a ceremony in Sikkim on Saturday, Singh will inaugurate 22 roads, 51 bridges and two other projects constructed by the BRO for Rs 2,236 crore. Among the projects, 19 are in J&K, 18 in Arunachal Pradesh, 11 in Ladakh, 9 in Uttarakhand and 6 in Sikkim.
Singh on Friday also said the armed forces must be prepared for "asymmetric warfare", which has been brought home by ongoing conflicts in the present "complex and ambiguous world situation".
"Unconventional and asymmetric warfare, including hybrid war, will be part of future conventional wars. This necessitates that armed forces should keep all these facets in consideration while formulating strategies. Be alert, regularly modernise and prepare continuously for various contingencies," Singh said.
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