India's army chief said on Monday that the country has no plans to scale back its winter military levels along the northern boundary, but it will reevaluate its summer deployment contingent on the results of its talks with China.
Both sides ceased patrolling various points along the border in Ladakh to prevent future clashes after 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers were killed in border clashes four years ago, Reuters reported.
At the same time, tens of thousands of additional troops and military equipment were being moved closer to the frigid mountainous area.
A few days after reaching an agreement in October of last year to end the four-year military standoff, Beijing and New Delhi withdrew their forces from the disputed boundary.
In the winter the number of deployed troops decrease. Therefore, we are not anticipating any force reductions, at least not in the winter strategy," army chief Upendra Dwivedi told reporters in New Delhi.
According to Dwivedi, a decision regarding summer deployment would be contingent to the outcome of discussions and negotiations with China.
"When it comes to the summer strategy, we'll take a review based on that time, how many negotiations and meetings have taken place," he stated.
The Himalayan boundary between China and India is poorly marked and has been a source of friction between the neighbors for many years, including a short but brutal war in 1962.
Following diplomatic negotiations and a number of agreements signed in 1991, economic and business ties flourished until the clashes in the summer of 2020 upended them.
