Former Indian Army Chief Gen Manoj Naravane has mentioned the 2020 Galwan Valley clashes between the Indian Army and China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) weren’t a “bad thing.” He implied that the bloody episode lastly made India realise that China is its primary risk and that the nation is now extra conscious. He additionally mentioned solely time will inform who really commanded the PLA to stir border tensions with India, at a time when the world was reeling underneath an intense COVID-19 wave.

Speaking at WordsCount literature pageant held in Rajasthan on Saturday (Feb 10), Naravane mentioned, “Why they did what they did is a question which continues to confound us. Especially because they did it when the world was in the claws of the Covid pandemic.”

He burdened it was extremely unlikely that the choice to impress the Indian Army by way of well-planned territorial incursion was made on the native degree.

“Had to be something which had to be coordinated much higher up. Whether that much higher up is at the level of their Western Theatre Command or right up to the Politburo (of the Chinese Communist Party), that time will tell,” he mentioned.

Naravane additional mentioned the 2020 clashes turned out to be a very good factor for India. “But what has happened is not a bad thing. Because for a very long time, we were shying away from calling out China as the No. 1 threat,” he was quoted as saying by the Print.

He additionally referred to as out the earlier coverage of New Delhi to discuss with China as “like our friend to the north”.

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“We were always hoping that by being decent and conciliatory and agreeing to what they are saying, they would return that favour in full measure and also give us the respect that is due. So obviously that was not coming… as a result of activities of 2020, we are more focussed now on where the threat actually lies,” the previous military chief mentioned.

The 2020 border clashes between India and China erupted after the PLA stopped the Indian facet from constructing a street within the Galwan River valley, on the Indo-Tibet border.

According to the Indian authorities, the bloody clashes ended with 20 casualties on the Indian facet and greater than 40 deaths on the opposite. However, China claimed simply 4 of its troopers died within the incident.

(With inputs from businesses)