Chepzi

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Chepzi
གྲི་ཕུ་ཆེ
Dripuche, Zhipuqi
Village and military post
China Tibet location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Chepzi
Location in Tibet, China
India Ladakh location map UN view.svg
Red pog.svg
Chepzi
Chepzi (Ladakh)
Coordinates: 32°34′35″N78°36′30″E / 32.5764°N 78.6083°E / 32.5764; 78.6083 Coordinates: 32°34′35″N78°36′30″E / 32.5764°N 78.6083°E / 32.5764; 78.6083
CountryFlag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China
Autonomous region Tibet
Prefecture Ngari
County Zanda
Elevation
5,100 m (16,700 ft)
Time zone UTC+8 (China Standard)

Chepzi, also spelt Chabji [1] and Dripuche, [lower-alpha 1] (Tibetan : གྲི་ཕུ་ཆེ, Wylie : gri phu che, THL : dri pu ché) [3] is a village and military post in the Tsamda County (Zanda County) of Tibet in China, close to the border with India's Ladakh. Chepzi is close to Chumar in Ladakh's Rupshu region. There is evidence that the people of Chumar have traditionally used the farmlands in Chepzi, and the village was included in Ladakh during the times of British Raj. However, independent India excluded it from its territories in its border definition. The border has been witness to a large number of incursions by the Chinese People's Liberation Army since 2011. [4] [5]

Contents

Geography

Map 1: Tibet-Ladakh border near Chepzi during the British Raj (map by AMS, 1954) Chumar-sector-US-Army-map-1954.png
Map 1: Tibet–Ladakh border near Chepzi during the British Raj (map by AMS, 1954)

According to a report in Sina Military, the Indian Army constructed "fortifications" at Chumar in 2011 and it was said that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) demolished them when the Indian troops withdrew for winter. [17] Indian media stated that loose stones had been assembled into the shape of "bunkers" by the soldiers at a location near the border, some 200–300 metres into Indian territory. [lower-alpha 3] The PLA personnel arrived in helicopters and dismantled them over a period of 20–25 minutes. Indian media described the event as a "shocker". [4]

Since this time, it is said that helicopter incursions by the PLA have occurred almost every year. [19]

In April 2013, a major standoff occurred at Depsang Bulge in northern Ladakh (some 500 km to the north), where the Chinese troops intruded 19 km into Indian territory near Burtsa and pitched tents for three weeks. As a condition for their withdrawal, they demanded the dismantling of a tin shed set up by the local Indian commander at Chumar at the patrol point called "30 R", which is said to be virtually on the Line of Actual Control. India conceded the demand. [20] [21] The Chinese commentators described the tactic as "Besiege Wei to rescue Zhao". [17]

Within a few months, the PLA troops were back at the border and cut the wires for the Indian surveillance cameras at the border. [19] In December 2013, they were reported to have intruded into Indian territory again and apprehended five Indian herders along with their cattle. This was reported to have occurred 5 km inside the Indian territory. [5]

A major standoff at the Chumar border itself occurred in 2014. According to the Indian government sources, more than 200 PLA troops arrived at the border along with twelve heavy vehicles, cranes and bulldozers, trying to construct a road into the Indian territory. The Indian troops confronted them and asked them to withdraw, which resulted in as many as seven face-offs. Some 15–20 metres of temporary track laid by the Chinese troops was demolished by the Indians. The standoff escalated with more than 1000 troops arrayed on each side. The confrontation ended only after the foreign ministers of the two countries met and agreed that there would be no road-laying or fresh construction in the areas claimed by both the sides. [22]

Notes

  1. Alternative spellings include Chabiji, [2] Chipuqê, Dripuche, Driphuche. [3] The Chinese pinyin spelling is Zhīpǔqí, often written without diacritics as Zhipuqi.
  2. See the map by the US Army Map Service (AMS), which is based on the Survey of India maps from 1945.
  3. The most likely location of these "bunkers" is on the hill top to the west of the Pare Chu valley, above the grazing ground of Tible. The area has been referred to as "Tible-Mane" in press reports. [18]

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The Depsang Bulge or Burtsa Bulge is a 900 square kilometre area of mountain terrain in the disputed Aksai Chin region, which was conceded to India by China in 1960 but remains under Chinese occupation since the 1962 Sino-Indian War. The area is immediately to the south of Depsang Plains and encloses the basin of the Burtsa Nala, a stream originating in the Aksai Chin region and flowing west to merge with the Depsang Nala near the village of Burtsa in Ladakh, eventually draining into the Shyok River. The area is perceived to be of strategic importance to both the countries, sandwiched by strategic roads linking border outposts. Since 2013, China has made attempts to push the Line of Actual Control further west into the Indian territory, threatening India's strategic road.

Gogra (also referred to as Nala Junction) is a pasture and campsite in the Ladakh union territory of India, near its disputed border with China. It is located in the Kugrang River valley, a branch valley of Chang Chenmo Valley, where the Changlung River flows into Kugrang. During the times of the British Raj, Gogra was a halting spot for travellers to Central Asia via the 'Chang Chenmo route', who proceeded through the Changlung river valley and the Aksai Chin plateau.

Tsosib Sumkyil or Churup Sumkhel is the westernmost township of the Zanda County in the Ngari Prefecture, Tibet region of China. It borders India's Spiti region in Himachal Pradesh as well as the Rupshu region of Ladakh. It is watered by the Pare Chu river, a tributary of the Spiti River and an upstream tributary of the Sutlej river. China has ongoing border disputes with India for the southern border of the township near Kaurik and the western border near Chumar.

References

  1. "Chinese Occupied Indian Territory...": Ladakh BJP MP Rebuts Rahul Gandhi, NDTV, 10 June 2020.
  2. 1 2 "Chabiji area beyond Indian borders: Army". The Hindu. 4 June 2020.
  3. 1 2 "Geographical names of Tibet AR (China): Ngari prefecture". KNAB Place Name Database. Institute of the Estonian Language. 3 June 2018.
  4. 1 2 Headlines Today Bureau, Chinese troops had dismantled bunkers on Indian side of LAC in August 2011, India Today, 25 April 2013.
  5. 1 2 PTI (15 December 2013). "China provokes again; PLA troops cross LAC, apprehend five Indians". Zee News.
  6. Gazetteer of Kashmir and Ladak, Calcutta: Superintendent of Government Printing, 1890, p. 654
  7. A. K. Singh, Yousuf Zaheer, The Continuing Story of Gya, The Himalayan Journal, Vol. 55, 199.
  8. Drew, The Jummoo and Kashmir Territories (1875), p. 496.
  9. Report of the Officials, Indian Report, Part 2 (1962), pp. 12–13.
  10. Large Scale International Boundaries (LSIB), Europe and Asia, 2012, EarthWorks, Stanford University, retrieved and annotated 11 October 2020.
  11. Report of the Officials, Indian Report, Part 1 (1962): "Thereafter [the boundary] turns westward and crosses the Pare river about five miles south of Chumar to reach Gya Peak ([Lat. and Long.] 32°32′N78°24′E / 32.533°N 78.400°E )."
  12. Report of the Officials, Indian Report, Part 2 (1962) , p. 12: "Similarly, the inhabitants of Hanle and Rupshu Ilaqas have always been using the pastures lying south of Chumar up to the Chepzelung and Kumsanglung streams on either side of the Pare River."
  13. Ashiq, Peerzada (2 June 2020). "Uneasy frontier robs Ladakh's herders of pastures". The Hindu.
  14. Stanzin Dasal, How China Is Quietly Moving its Borders into India, VICE News, 3 August 2020.
  15. Locals in Ladakh demand restoration of mobile services to ease war fear, The Economic Times, 5 June 2020.
  16. Report of the Officials, Chinese Report, Part 1 (1962) , p. 5: "It then runs westwards and crosses the Pare River at its junction with a small stream (approximately 32°37′N78°37′E / 32.617°N 78.617°E ) to reach the tri-junction of China's Ari district and India's Punjab [now Himachal Pradesh] and Ladakh (approximately 32°31′N78°24′E / 32.517°N 78.400°E )."
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 深度:从中印对峙解读我驻边部队 条件恶劣仍逼退印军 ("Depth: Interpretation from the Sino-Indian confrontation"), Sina Military, 22 October 2014.
  18. Sujan Datta, Face-off on border on eve of Modi-Xi date, The Telegraph (India), 16 September 2014.
  19. 1 2 PTI, Chinese troops enter Chumar again; vandalise Indian posts, The Economic Times, 9 July 2013.
  20. Sushant Singh, Explained: Six years ago, how a standoff in Ladakh ended after discussion, The Indian Express, 16 June 2020.
  21. Gupta, The Himalayan Face-off (2014) , Introduction: "Some 500 km from the 17,000 feet high plains of Depsang, the Indian Army constructed a tin shed to cover a point known as '30 R' in Chumar, eastern Ladakh. The '30 R' point was within the LOP authorized by the CSG and the Cabinet Committee on Security in 1976, but it was also an area under dispute which virtually sat on the LAC... At 7.30 p.m. on 5 May, both sides disengaged from Depsang plains and the Indian troops returned to their old position in Chumar after dismantling the '30 R' tin shed."
  22. Kumar, India's National Security: Annual Review (2016), pp. 75–76.

Bibliography

Chepzi
Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese
Hanyu Pinyin Zhīpǔqí