Why Do India and China Keep Fighting Over This Desolate Terrain?

India launched a counteroffensive on the evening of Aug. 29, 2020, as troops from a secretive Indian guerrilla force and the Indian Army climbed the slopes of a mountain in eastern Ladakh. This mountain is part of the Kailash Range, which stretches for 500 miles and reaches heights of up to 22,000 feet. The difficult terrain had remained unoccupied by both India and China since the 1962 war, but now Indian Army commanders aimed to seize control of several strategic hilltops.

Under the operation named Snow Leopard, Indian troops swiftly gained control of a key peak and moved tanks up a mountainside to secure the high mountain pass of Rezang La, overlooking a Chinese garrison at Moldo. The well-planned operation caught the People’s Liberation Army (P.L.A.) off guard, resulting in one casualty on the Indian side.

The goal of capturing the Kailash heights was to pressure China into withdrawing from the areas it had occupied earlier. This strategic move eventually led to a successful negotiation in February 2021, where the P.L.A. dismantled its structures in exchange for Indian troops vacating the hilltops.

Despite this development, the Chinese military presence in the region north of Pangong Lake has intensified, with the construction of a new P.L.A. divisional headquarters just three and a half miles from the Line of Actual Control. Satellite imagery analysis indicates the presence of support buildings surrounded by trenches and revetments for equipment storage.