Microwave arms used by China at Line of Actual Control? Fake news, asserts Indian Army

NEW DELHI: The Army on Tuesday dismissed as “fake” a few online media reports emanating from China that the People’s Liberation Army had used microwave weapons to force Indian soldiers to retreat during the ongoing military confrontation in eastern Ladakh.

Jin Canrong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing, has been quoted as saying in the media that the PLA turned two strategic hilltops occupied by Indian soldiers into a “microwave oven”, while firing directed energy weapons (DEWs) on August 29. He claimed Indian troops on the two hilltops began to vomit and were forced to withdraw, allowing the positions to be retaken by Chinese soldiers without an exchange of conventional fire.

“It’s a fake, ludicrous claim, part of the continuing psychological operations from across the border. PLA does not seem to have recovered from the shock of our troops occupying multiple Kailash range heights on the south bank of Pangong Tso-Chushul on August 29-30,” a senior Army officer said.


India’s military confrontation with China in eastern Ladakh is into its seventh month now, with over 50,000 soldiers each from the two armies, backed by howitzers, tanks and missile systems, remaining deployed in the high-altitude region. Though military and diplomatic talks are under way, the exact modalities and sequencing of the proposed disengagement are yet to be finalised.