Chinese troops unlikely to take part in Indian Independence Day celebrations at border

NEW DELHI: The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is unlikely to attend the ceremonial border personnel meeting (BPM) for India's Independence Day celebrations held along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh every year in the backdrop of the ongoing troop standoff at Doklam.
The invitation for the August 15 ceremonial meeting at the BPM points - Daulat Beg Oldi and Chushul in Ladakh, Bum La and Kibithu in Arunachal, and Nathu La in Sikkim - was sent to the PLA but there has been no response till now, said sources.The Army, however, refused to say anything on the matter.
Indian troops had also not crossed over to the Chinese side for the 90th anniversary celebrations of the PLA on August 1, with both sides having militarily reinforced their positions along the LAC after the Doklam crisis erupted in mid-June.
"There are seven-eight occasions in a year that the two armies hold the ceremonial meetings at the different BPM points, which include speeches, cultural performances, exchange of gifts and tea/snacks. But it's unlikely to take place on Tuesday," said a source.
Beijing has also ignored reminders from New Delhi about the 7th edition of the annual "Hand-in-Hand" exercise between the Indian Army and PLA, which was to be held in China in October, as was earlier by The Times of India.
The joint exercise, touted as an important confidence-building measure between the world's largest and second-largest armies ranged against each other along the 4,057-km LAC, was held for the first at Kunming (China) in 2007.
But after the second edition at Belgaum in 2008, the exercise was put on hold due to diplomatic spats over stapled visa and other issues in 2009-2010.
The exercise was finally resumed in 2013, with the third edition being held at Miaoergang in China. "But this year, China has not agreed to come for even the initial planning conference in New Delhi, leave along the final planning conference," said the source.