Representative Image

A Chinese aircraft came very close to Indian positions right on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh in the last week of June. The Indian Air Force (IAF) reacted quickly and activated its assets to tackle any possible misadventure, top sources in the government told India Today.

This was one of the first incidents of a possible air space violation in the last few months by the Chinese side in the eastern Ladakh sector, they said. The Chinese aircraft was picked up by an IAF radar deployed in the border area, the sources said. The incident took place at a time when the Chinese Air Force is holding a major exercise in areas controlled by it near eastern Ladakh, and has used air defence weapons in a major way during the drills.

The matter was taken up by the Indian side, as per the established norms, with the Chinese and they were asked to prevent any such incident in future, the sources said. Since then, the Chinese have not done any such thing in the border areas with India.

The Indian side has taken strong measures in the eastern Ladakh sector to deter any possible misadventure by the Chinese, like what they did in 2020.