The Ministry of External Affairs(MEA) on Thursday said that India is monitoring the situation along the Pangong Tso, where China has reportedly built a 'second bridge'. MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told media persons that New Delhi will continue its talks with Beijing over the deployment along the Line of Actual Control(LAC).
"We have seen reports on this bridge or a second bridge... We are monitoring the situation. Of course, we always felt it was occupied...Talks are on with the Chinese side," said MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi.
Bagchi responded to the reports with satellite images claiming China was constructing a "larger" second bridge on the Pangong Tso. As per the reports, this bridge would facilitate faster mobilization of Chinese Army troops in case of any conflict. Reports further suggested that the bridge was about 20 Km away from the LAC.
Damien Symon who is a geospatial intelligence researcher posted the satellite images of the new construction on Twitter, news agency PTI reported."Continued monitoring of the bridge construction at #PangongTso shows the further development on site, new activity shows a larger bridge being developed parallel to the first. likely in order to support larger/heavier movement over the lake," his tweet read.
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The MEA spokesperson said that recently External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in a meeting with Visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi conveyed that tensions emerged from China's defense deployment since April 2020 cannot facilitate normal relations between India and China.
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India and China's relationship turned more hostile post the Galwan Valley standoff in eastern Ladakh in April 2020. However both the countries have held several rounds of military-level and diplomatic talks, the situation still remains the same, issues still unresolved. Both the countries have deployed over 50,000 troops on their respective sides.
