Military deployments

The Depsang Bulge area, Indian territory that was partly occupied by China during the 1962 war;^[15] the location of the standoff is at the confluence of the Raki Nala with Burtsa Nala.

During the night of 15 April 2013, a platoon of 50 Chinese troops established an encampment in four tents in the dry river bed of Raki Nala in the Depsang Bulge, which represents the valley of Burtsa Nala or Tiannan River (Chinese: 天南河; pinyin: Tiān nán hé).^{[16][4][17][18]} The encampment was discovered the next day by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, who then set up an encampment of their own consisting of eight tents 300 meters away from the Chinese. The Chinese force was supplied by trucks and supported by helicopters.^[11] The Indian government considered this the most serious border incident in years.^[5]

The Indian military followed a policy of restraint, attempting to keep the issue "localized" and "tactical", in order to give the Indian government the opportunity to resolve the issue through diplomacy. Throughout the incident no shots were fired and the Indian military did not attempt to outflank the Chinese. Minimal efforts were made by the Indian army to reinforce the position after its initial deployment, though the two sides did raise banners encouraging each other to withdraw. Much of the negotiations were conducted between officers present in the two camps.^[10] Western media largely interpreted China's actions as a show of force by the Chinese military, but some journalists speculated that the incident was possibly conducted by the Chinese military as a way to protest the perceived existence of a "permanent facility" that the Indian army had built in a disputed area.^[12] China's military think tank later tried to suggest that the incident was "accidental" and "not deliberately staged".^[19]

Resolution

The Indian government protested diplomatically, asking the Chinese to withdraw their military and to recognise the status quo that existed before the incident.^[20] The Chinese responded by publicly denying that there was any border issue, stating that their forces did not cross what they perceived the LAC to be.^[21]

On April 27, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told that, "We do have a plan. We do not want to accentuate the situation. We do believe that it is possible to resolve this problem. It is a localised problem. I think the talks are going on."^[22] India opted not to take military action and pressed on with a long-planned visit to China by its foreign minister, Salman Khurshid.^[23] Within the Indian Parliament, the government was heavily criticised by the opposition for its handling of the incident^[7] who compared it to India's defeat in the 1962 Sino-Indian War. On 3 May, shortly before the dispute was resolved, the Indian parliament was adjourned after opposition members became disruptive, shouting "get China out, save the country".^[5] The negotiations lasted nearly twenty days, during which the Chinese military increased their presence in the region.^[11] To resolve the issue, India agreed to a Chinese demand to demolish some live-in bunkers in the Chumar sector, 250 km to the south, and refrain from building more bunkers which the Chinese perceived as threatening.^[6] Other Chinese demands included the demolition of Indian listening and observation posts built along the border, and an end to the undocumented passage of nomadic shepherds into the Chinese side, but it was not clear to what degree India agreed to these demands.^[7] Following the resolution of the dispute, the Chinese military withdrew.^[11][1] The standoff ended on 5 May.^[5]

The Chinese military in July 2014 acknowledged the incursion at the Depsang Valley in Ladakh region and said that such incidents occurred due to differing perceptions of the Line of Actual Control.^[24]