Ongoing confilct between India-China far from over: Expert

Jianli Yang wrote in his opinion piece published in The Washington Times: "China has fundamentally altered the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and there is no going back. In May 2020, China changed the situation on the ground by shifting the LAC and preventing Indian patrolling on territory previously controlled by India."

"China has constructed an entire village along the LAC in Arunachal Pradesh, which hotly came into debate in January. Despite multiple rounds of disengagement talks, the message is loud and clear, China is unwilling to take a back step. The dispute is far from over," read the piece.

"The latest disengagement talk between China and India is merely a reiteration of earlier peace talks. The agreement provides that China will move back its troops on the north bank to east of Finger 8, while the Indian army will move to its permanent base at Dhan Singh Thapa Post near Finger 3. The agreement goes on to state that any structures that had been built by both sides since April 2020 in both the north and the south bank area will be removed and status quo will be restored," the writer said.

The writer said China’s intentions despite disengagement talks are far from pure.

"China clearly has a future strategic aim this year to hold on to its gains and get the Indian army out of Kailash Range. The disengagement talks could very well be hogwash and aimed to pull back Indian troops from the Kailash range in exchange of PLA pulling back slightly from some unimportant areas. India cannot rule out a possible military action by China post winters to evict Indian troops from Kailash Range," he said.