Lately in Bumla and Tawang, Nov. 6: Behind the bonhomie and the scenes of good cheer that marked the meeting of Indian and Chinese military officials at the Heap of Stones on the Line of Actual Control across Arunachal Pradesh last Monday, Beijing has quietly slipped in a note of dissent on Indian border patrols.

Later this week, the special envoys of India and China on border talks — national security adviser M.K. Narayanan and Dai Bingquo — are scheduled to meet ahead of Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit slated for November 20.

The Chinese delegation led by Senior Colonel Li Ming handed over to the Indian delegation led by Brigadier Sanjay Kulkarni photographs that were said to be of Indian Army personnel in Chinese-claimed territory.

The “incursion” is not recognised by the Indian Army but neither does the Chinese side recognise reports of “incursions” by the Indian side. Both sides recognise that their perceptions on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) are different.

For example, the Indian claim-line is along the watershed of the Thagla Ridge in the Kameng sector that is definitely in Chinese hands.

The photographs were taken by a hand-held digital camera and were purported to be those of an Indian Army patrol near Asaphila in the sector that the army calls RALP — Rest of Arunachal Pradesh — that covers the LAC to the east of the Kameng sector.

By and large, the armies have remained disengaged along the LAC except for an incident last year when two Indian Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau personnel were disarmed and returned. The armies say they are not only implementing “confidence-building measures” but have also evolved “conflict avoidance measures (CAMS)”.

The CAMS cover steps to be taken in a potentially tension-ridden situation, such as how will patrols act if they chance upon each other.

Evidence of an alleged incursion was presented to the Indian delegation at Bumla in the Kameng sector because Bumla is the only place across the Arunachal frontier where border personnel meetings are held regularly.

The two other spots where the meetings take place are in different regions — Nathu La on the Sikkim border and Chushul on the Ladakh border.

The Indian Army’s Tezpur headquartered 4 Corps — that has the dual responsibility of manning the LAC with China and counter-insurgency operations in Assam — has designated Asaphila as a “disputed area”.

The Chinese side also recognises it as such.

In the parlance of border talks, “sensitive areas” are spots where disputes are likely to arise because of differences in perception of the LAC and “disputed areas” are places mutually agreed as disputed.