NEW DELHI: Fifty eight years ago this week, China launched an assault on India in Ladakh and North East Frontier Agency (now known as Arunachal Pradesh). India was caught unawares when confronted by Chinese troops that were more in number and armed better. The Indian army did show flashes of valour and brilliance in pockets but was outdone. That was in 1962. Now, as the standoff in eastern Ladakh is about to complete six months, Chinese troops find themselves pitted against a force that is equally well armed, whose morale is high and which is amazingly fit for high-altitude warfare. StratNews Global Editor-in-Chief Nitin A. Gokhale, who was on a tour of the forward areas in eastern Ladakh this week, tells us why 2020 isn’t 1962.
