Chinese President Xi Jinping held a video conversation with the soldiers of People’s Liberation Army (PLA) stationed along the India China border in eastern Ladakh and “inspected their combat” readiness. “India was keeping a close and careful watch over the entire development through diplomatic channels,” sources told The Daily Guardian. “The senior diplomats analysed and reviewed the inputs related to Xi Jinping’s interaction with the Chinese troops along the LAC,” sources said, adding, “Indian diplomatic, defence and security, intelligence establishments would continue to follow the PLA activities more carefully and more closely after this video conferencing.” “It was Jinping’s rare conversation with PLA soldiers who are stationed along the India-China border through a video link,” sources said. “Xi spoke from the PLA headquarters in Beijing. He addressed the troops at a border defence station in Khunjerab under the Xinjiang Military Command and “inspected their combat readiness”, a report said. Diplomats in Delhi see it as an important development in the light of the fact that the border standoff between India and China continues to be unresolved despite several rounds of military-level meetings. What is also important is that Jinping addressed a Chinese navy formation and an air force aviation brigade and “ordered them to remain alert and be ready for combat.” That he spoke about changing the situation should be viewed as an important remark having far-reaching implications, sources said. Xi, who is also general secretary of the ruling CPC and the commander-in-chief of the PLA, in his remarks to the troops, referred to how “in recent years, the area has been constantly changing” and how it had impacted the army. The official media reported that Xi had asked the border troops about their border patrol and management work and hailed the soldiers as models of border defence and encouraged them to persist in their efforts and make new contributions. Sources said that the Indian defence minister and other top army commanders are constantly in touch with the Indian soldiers who are deployed along the LAC. “Our soldiers are also motivated and encouraged to deal with any challenge that the Chinese forces may pose,” sources said. India would continue to assert that peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control are essential for the overall development of its bilateral relationships with China, source said.
