Incursion by China during President Xi's visit 'uncommon': Indo-Tibetan Border Police

NEW DELHI: The ITBP, which guards the Sino- Indian border, today said that the incursion by China in Ladakh during the recent visit of its President Xi Jinping to India was "uncommon" as it had gone on for a fortnight, unlike past episodes which had lasted no longer than 10-15 minutes.

"It was uncommon as normally such incidents do not last for more than 10-15 minutes. When they come, we show them a banner telling them that the territory is of India's and ask them to go back. They normally do. But this time the incident lasted for long," Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) Director General Subhas Goswami said at a press conference here.

Refusing to disclose the details of the affair which had unfolded during the visit of the Chinese President last month, Goswami said that incursions by China take place due to the perceptional difference vis-a-vis each other's territories.

"The incidents in the past occurred due to the difference in the perception regarding the border," he said.

Forces of the two countries were locked in a stare-down at Chumur in Ladakh for a fortnight beginning Sept. 11. The matter had clouded Xi's three-day visit to India.

For days, soldiers of the Chinese PLA and Indian security personnel were engaged in an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation in the area even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the matter twice with the Chinese president.

Tension had erupted when some Chinese workers crossed over with equipment to build a road up to 5-km deep inside Indian territory. A marathon flag meeting between the two armies had facilitated an end to the crisis.

Goswami said that ITBP, which guards the 3,488-km-long, high altitude border stretching from Jammu and Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh, has placed the demand for more cameras and other surveillance equipment. "We have installed a camera in the Ladakh sector which can zoom into objects 20-25-km away. We need more of such instruments," he said.

Asked to comment about reports that the army wants to have the operational control of ITBP, Goswami said he had no such information, but added that "giving command of a force to another force would not be good".

ITBP has said that it has approached Home Ministry for approval to set up 54 more Border Out Posts.