India won't reduce troops along China border in winter, army chief say

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — An Indian Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel stands guard at a checkpoint along a highway leading to Ladakh, at Gagangeer in Kashmir's Ganderbal district September 2, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Ismail

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India is not looking to reduce the number of troops along the northern frontier in winter, the country's army chief said on Monday adding that it will review summer deployment based on outcome of negotiations with China.

Four years ago, 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers were killed during border clashes following which both sides stopped patrolling several points on the border in Ladakh to avoid new confrontations, while moving tens of thousands of new troops and military equipment closer to the freezing mountainous region.

New Delhi and Beijing reached a deal in October last year to resolve the four-year military stand-off and few days later they pulled back troops from the disputed border.

"During winter deployment, the number of troops come down. So therefore, at least in the winter strategy, we are not looking forward to any reduction of troops," army chief Upendra Dwivedi told reporters in New Delhi.

Dwivedi said a decision on summer deployment would depend on how negotiations and talks with China progress.

"When it comes to the summer strategy, we'll take a review based on that time, how many negotiations and meetings have taken place," he said.

India and China share a poorly demarcated border which runs along the Himalayas and has been a source of tension between the neighbours for decades, including a brief but bloody war in 1962.

Ties stabilised after diplomatic talks and a series of pacts were reached from 1991 and trade and business links boomed until they were disrupted by the clashes in the summer of 2020.

 (Reporting by Shivam Patel, writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; editing by Sudipto Ganguly)