Cavalier India Defence Training Academy

India, once a counter to China's military clout, now finds itself unable to garner support from the very countries it signed agreements with. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits India's Himalayan desert region of Ladakh, India, July 3, 2020, in this still image taken from video. Photo: ANI Numerous strategic partnerships and security arrangements that India had recently built up to counter China’s growing hegemony and territorial ambitions, have proved futile in all attempts at settling the enduring crisis posed by its People’s Liberation Army (PLA) along the line of actual control (LAC) in Ladakh. Senior military officers claimed that all these stridently proclaimed regional pacts, agreed 2014 onwards and confined largely to the maritime domain, have failed in providing New Delhi any leverage in ‘pressuring’ Beijing into vacating large tracts of its territory occupied by the PLA since early May. “The clout these much publicised alliances had promised, and which cou...

The PLA Navy may need such bases in large numbers to minimise the geographical distance from China, he said while speaking at a webinar organised by Tillotama Foundation Indian naval ship conducts a Passage Exercise PASSEX with the United States Navy's USS Nimitz carrier strike group as it transits the Indian Ocean. (Photo | Twitter) Defence and strategic experts on Monday said that China's posturing in the Indian Ocean will disturb stability and peace in the region. Commandant of National Defence College, Vice-Admiral Pradeep Kaushiva, said that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China has been establishing naval bases in the Indian Ocean for a long time. The PLA Navy may need such bases in large numbers to minimise the geographical distance from China, he said while speaking at a webinar organised by Tillotama Foundation. "In such a scenario, the Indian Ocean is poised for turbulence and I believe it is in the offing," Vice-Admiral Kaushiva said. He said, ...

(US orders closure of Chinese consulate in Houston | Image : CNN) The United States government has abruptly ordered China to "cease all operations and events" at its consulate in Houston, Texas, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, in what it called an "unprecedented escalation" in recent actions taken by Washington. Late Tuesday evening, police in Houston said they responded to reports of smoke in the courtyard outside the consulate , located on Montrose Boulevard , in the city's Midtown area. Local media shared video of what appeared to be officials inside the compound burning documents . US State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said the consulate was directed to close "in order to protect American intellectual property and Americans' private information" but did not immediately provide additional details of what prompted the closure. Chinese media reported that the consulate had been given 72 hours to close. Relations between Chi...

The latest ban on 59 China-linked apps has sent a signal to the West that India is prepared to take bold decisions to protect its security and sovereignty against an increasingly belligerent neighbour.   US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo In banning 59 apps of purported Chinese origin – a move that was, presumably, made in retaliation to the disturbing events that unfolded on June 15 that lead to the deaths of twenty Indian soldiers at the Sino-Indian border in Eastern Ladakh – Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued a definitive statement that India was prepared to employ unconventional means to resist undue pressure from China. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, China has displayed a remarkable degree of aggression on numerous fronts. From the boundary dispute in the Himalayas, to maritime encroachment in the South China Sea, to the controversial national security law passed in Hong Kong, and, more recently, in inflaming territorial discord with Bhutan, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has...

China and India have accused each other of provoking fighting in which both sides have suffered severe casualties in a disputed Himalayan area. India and China have been locked in a border dispute for decades The Indian army said that both sides suffered casualties, but there has been no word on numbers from China yet. Tuesday's battle was reportedly fought with rocks and clubs. However, no shots were fired. The Indian army said a number of its troops "were critically injured in the line of duty". The statement goes on to note that the injured soldiers were also "exposed to sub-zero temperatures in the high altitude terrain ". An extraordinary escalation 'with rocks and clubs' Monday's confrontation in the Ladakh region was the first deadly clash in the border area in at least 45 years. India said China had tried to "unilaterally change the status quo". Beijing accused Indian troops of "attacking Chinese personnel". The two armies...

Indian and Chinese armies rushed in additional troops in areas around Pangong Tso lake and Galwan Valley in Ladakh, signalling hardening of their aggressive posturing two weeks after they were engaged in a fierce face-off, military sources said on Wednesday.  Representative Image  It is learnt that the India's top military brass is constantly monitoring the evolving situation even as the US said the aggressive behaviour by Chinese troops was a reminder of the threat posed by China. "The flare-ups on the border, I think, are a reminder that Chinese aggression is not always just rhetorical. And so whether it's in the South China Sea or whether it's along the border with India, we continue to see provocations and disturbing behaviour by China," said Alice Wells, the outgoing head of the South and Central Asia bureau in the US State Department. Her comments at an online media briefing came even as efforts to de-escalate the tense situation in the sensitive areas conti...

While the Indian Army is bearing the burden of a large personnel driven force, the Chinese are in the midst of a massive modernisation. Army jawans patrolling near the snow-covered border on the occasion in Kupwara | ANI Photo With approximately 1.4 million personnel, the Indian Army has become the world’s largest ground force, pulling ahead of China, which cut down its strength by half and is instead focusing on its navy, air force and technology. According to the Defence of Japan 2019 report, released late last year, China has the third largest ground force in the world following India and North Korea, with approximately 9,80,000 personnel. The Peoples’ Liberation Army (PLA) was always regarded as the largest army in the world with an approximate strength of two million soldiers. India, which has been keenly watching the PLA’s modernisation, is just in the initial stages of building a leaner and modern technology-enabled force as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015. Ho...