Xi’s mobilisation order, months of planning ahead of border moves

Xi’s mobilisation order, months of planning ahead of border moves

Timing of incursions shows high level of coordination’

China’s moves into the Galwan Valley, Pangong Lake area and several other spots along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), starting in early May, were likely planned for months and followed a new mobilisation order issued by President Xi Jinping, according to the assessments of Indian officials. Several Chinese incursions across the LAC took place almost simultaneously in locations several hundred kilometres apart — some even hours apart on the same day — leading to skirmishes in early and mid­May. The timing of the incidents suggested a high level of coordination and planning, the officials said. In Galwan Valley and Pangong Lake, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) deployments appeared to have been aimed at pushing India back from the LAC and redrawing it to more closely align with China’s official borders. A buffer zone that both sides have temporarily agreed to in Galwan has, on China’s insistence, been structured around Beijing’s new LAC perception, shift

ing the line around 1 km west. In Pangong Lake, China has thinned its presence from its LAC perception at Finger 4 but moved only to Finger 5, still much deeper inside from the Indian claim line at Finger 8 which is about 8 km from Finger 4. Starting in late January and early February, the PLA began what was viewed as routine mobilisation for annual exercises in Xinjiang, which borders Ladakh. This year, however, in a major departure from the earlier annual exercises, PLA troops that used to train far inside their territory,while border frontier troops remained in forward areas, for the first time moved close to the border. Due to this, there was huge mobilisation since April and the move was very evident, officials stated.Significant new order In January 2020, President Xi signed a new Training Mobilisation Order (TMO) for strengthening military training in real combat conditions and “to maintain a high level of readiness”. The new order updated the 2019 TMO, which was the first such order to be signed by Mr. Xi, and had called for implementing new military training guidelines announced by him in 2018 to improve combat readiness. While the announcement

was seen as routine at the time, Indian officials believe it dramatically altered the pattern of annual exercises and China’s forward deployments, not just with India but also in other theatres, where tensions have flared this summer with Japan, Taiwan and in the South China Sea. Government sources said the TMO called for “confrontational training” to assess the reaction of commanders in real­time combat situations and deal with “a multifront situation”. “They are putting these to test and are war­gaming in real­time,” said one government source, who like others quoted in this article requested anonymity.