India-China standoff: Indian Army gains upper hand and control of commanding heights in Ladakh

Indian Army has gained the upper hand and control of commanding heights in Ladakh close to the Chinese positions.

As a result they can track the movements of the Chinese soldiers andthwart the attempts made by thePeople's Liberation Army to transgress into Indian territory.

The timing of the news is significant as it has come just before a meeting between India's external affairs minister S.Jaishankarand Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi in Moscow.

According to China's state-run Global Times, Chinese Army has deployed "bombers, air defence troops, artillery, armoured vehicles, paratroopers, special forces and infantry units in the bordering plateau region".

Pictures ofChinese soldiers with batons, spears andmachetes had also emerged.The weapons are actually traditional Chinese swords calledGuan Dao.

According to sources, officers from both sides exchanged heated arguments over the hotline. The Indian brigadier accused China of setting up semi-permanent stone defences and escalating tensions by attempting to create such positions. However, the conversation yielded no fruitful result.

India stakes claim on the area between finger 4 and finger 8 in thenorth bank of Pangong Tso which is called as the grey zone. However,Chinese soldiers violated the agreement between the two nations and have stationed themselves in this region.

As a part of disengagement, India has repeatedly asked Chinese forces to go on its side of LAC and vacate the area.

From Sikkim to Ladakh, China has been provoking India by trying to intrude in its territory since the past four months.

Tensions along the India-China border took an alarming turn on Tuesday after China fired shotson the Indian soldiers. It wasthe first time in decades that guns had been aggressively used.