Chushul, Ladakh:
Despite recent months of tension on the Line of Actual Control between India and China, the two countries have managed to keep things calm as the bonhomie in Ladakh showed.
NDTV reporter who travelled to Ladakh found Indian and Chinese officers interacting, exchanging pleasantries and sitting in a meeting. Indian and Chinese soldiers are seen mixing business with pleasure in Ladakh on January 26.
Thrice each year, Chinese soldiers walk into Indian territory, and Indians reciprocate in the same manner.
On the occasion of India's 61st Republic Day, the mood was distinctly joyous at the border.
This was in stark contrast to the acrimony and tension along in Ladakh last year. Chinese patrolling the Line of Actual Control was aggressive and some times intrusive, forcing India to increase vigil.
Negotiations on the 50-year old India-China border dispute remain frozen despite over dozen rounds of talks in recent years but the military is taking no chances. Ladakh is now the new focus of Indian army's plans.
"You see improving the military posture is an ongoing process. Accordingly the infrastructure development is going on. And as part of our security calculus we do plan various things and I think I will leave it at that," said Lt.Gen BS Jaswal, Northern Army Commander.
All that is in the future.
For the moment at least, the tension and the differences between the two sides is forgotten as you would see, Chinese officers are happy to be here, they are exchanging pleasantries with the Indian soldiers.
This happens every time a border personnel meeting takes place between India and China across the Himalayan frontier starting from Arunachal Pradesh in the east to Ladakh in the west.