NEW DELHI: India’s Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat has claimed that the situation at the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh remains tense and the possibility of a war with China cannot be ruled out. Speaking at the Diamond Jubilee Webinar 2020 organised by National Defence College in Delhi, he said, “In the overall security calculus – border confrontations, transgressions, unprovoked tactical military actions – spiralling into a larger conflict therefore cannot be discounted.”
General Rawat also stated that India “will not accept any shift in Line of Actual Control.” Appreciating the firm responses of the Indian forces, he said that China’s People’s Liberation Army is facing unanticipated consequences for its misadventure into Ladakh. He also explained that Indian defence industry will exponentially grow in the coming years to strengthen India’s defence front. “The industry will deliver us state-of-art weapons and equipment fully made in India. We must move out of the constant threat of sanctions or dependency on individual nations for our military requirements and invest in building long-term indigenous capability for strategic independence and application of decisive military power to squarely meet present and emerging challenges,” he added.
