China deploys more patrol boats on Ladakh's Pangong lake, objects to road work by India: Report

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China has stepped up patrols and deployed more boats on the Pangong Tso. This comes weeks after Indian and Chinese troops came to blows near the lake in eastern Ladakh region.

According to a report in The Indian Express, the Chinese have also objected to Indian construction of a road and patrols beyond a point along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

The report suggests that the number of Chinese patrol boats has increased three times.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.

Indian armed forces have also stationed boats in the western area of the lake which is under Indian control.

Also read: Chinese helicopters spotted along Sino-India border in Eastern Ladakh

“Nearly one-third of Chinese transgressions in the western sector (of the LAC) happen in Pangong Tso. Not only have they substantially increased the number of boats on the lake, but their patrolling behaviour is also increasingly more aggressive. It is not a healthy thing when you consider what has been going on in the Finger Area since late April,” sources told the newspaper.

Earlier this month, around 250 soldiers from both sides were engaged in a fierce face-off near the lake. They even reportedly resorted to stone-pelting. A number of soldiers on both sides sustained injuries.

This was the first case of troops from the two sides exchanging blows after a similar incident around the Pangong Lake in August 2017.

In a separate incident, nearly 150 Indian and Chinese military personnel were engaged in a face-off near Naku La Pass in the Sikkim sector of the Sino-India border on May 10. At least 10 soldiers from both the sides sustained injuries in the incident.