China has got lot of India's land: Ex-Army chief Naravane

New Delhi: Former Indian Army chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane has said that China's attempts to change the status quo on the Line of Actual Control by resorting to "salami slicing" tactics have led to a "more assertive" response from the Indian Army.

In a 'Podcast with ANI,' General Naravane said that the Chinese army has been trying to alter the status quo along the LAC in very "small incremental steps" and over a period of time Beijing has gained a lot.

The former Indian Army chief's remarks come in the wake of the December 9 face-off of the Chinese army with Indian troops in the Yangtse area of the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh on December 9, in which the Chinese were pushed back by the Indian Army.

"China has been trying to alter the status quo along the LAC for many years, decades in fact, and they have been doing this in very small incremental steps which by themselves do not look very dangerous. They look quite innocuous. What we call salami slicing, coming up one inch at a time. But in the bargain over a period of time they have gained a lot. This is the tactics they have adopted and were continuing to do," Gen Naravane said.

"There was a time to say this much and no further. So that is what actually happened as they kept trying to probe especially north of the Panong Tso (lake in Ladakh). They come time and again and then they want to make it a historical fact that we have been coming here. They tried to alter the status quo as it is existing," he added. The Indian Air Force has said the Eastern Air Command would conduct an exercise to train its crew in the northeastern region but that the exercise was planned well ahead of the recent developments in Tawang and is therefore not associated with the events.

The latest incident in Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh was the first reported clash between the India and China since the one in Galwan, a valley in Ladakh region, in 2020. Twenty Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese soldiers were killed in the Galwan clashes.