Even though the Doklam standoff at the India-Tibet-Bhutan trijunction has come to an end, it looks like things at the Indo-China border are yet to get back to complete normalcy. The Indian Army and China's People's Liberation Army did not take part in the traditional Border Personnel Meeting (BPM) on Sunday, October 1, which marked China's 68th national day.
Before the BPM is conducted, both the sides usually give a confirmation on it a few days in advance, but this time the Chinese side reportedly did not send an invite to the Indian side.
"The People's Liberation Army did not send us an invite for the ceremonial meeting at the five BPM points (Daulat Beg Oldi and Chushul in Ladakh, Bum La and Kibithu in Arunachal, and Nathu La in Sikkim) on October 1," the Times of India quoted a source as saying.
Meanwhile, India and China are also supposed to take part in the 7th edition of the annual "Hand-in-Hand" exercise this month, but the details are yet to be worked out and there has reportedly been "no forward movement." India has sent numerous reminders to Beijing regarding the exercise, but the neighbour is yet to respond to it.
"The exercise is unlikely this year," the source told the daily.
It has also been said that even though the standoff came to end on August 28, the region still sees the presence of the Indian Army and China's PLA. "The PLA did halt construction of its motorable road through the standoff site towards the Jampheri Ridge (physically blocked by Indian soldiers after coming down from their adjacent Doka La post on June 16), but is maintaining its force-levels in the area," another source explained.
India and China did not hold the BPM on August 15 as well, as the Chinese side had not responded to India's invite even until the last minute. "Invite was sent to PLA a few days ago, but they didn't respond. So orders were given to stand down and no BPMs will be held at any of the five locations tomorrow," the Economic Times had then quoted an officer as saying.
Due to the Doklam standoff, Beijing this year didn't hold a BPM on PLA Day either.
BPMs are usually held on Indian Independence Day, Republic Day and PLA Day on August 1 at Nathu La in Sikkim, Daulat Beg Oldie and Chushul in Ladakh, and Bumla and Kibithu in Arunachal Pradesh. On the occasion, the armies of the two countries have discussions and group activities and also take part in sports.
