PLA soldiers on border patrol given new high-tech outfits to withstand harsh winter
Global Times Published: 2020/9/20 22:25:17
A new article published by the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Daily revealed that Chinese soldiers on border patrol have been equipped with new clothes that feature advanced design, high technology and practical functions, which can help them better enforce their task of safeguarding border regions.
According to the article, the frontier patrol equipment mainly includes cold-proof hoods, warm training clothes, lightweight cold-proof warm training coats, moisture-absorbing and quick-drying underwear, warm fleece underwear, down warm cotton underwear, warm cotton vests and cold-proof outer gloves, among others.
The new equipment can meet troops' needs at high altitude and low temperatures, and in different geographical environments.
Various new technologies have been applied to the new clothes. For example, the warm training suit uses the latest domestically developed high-strength polyamide fiber to achieve both light weight and high strength.
The training underwear uses porous copolyester imitation linen material, which can absorb moisture quickly. In addition, the lightweight cold-proof and warm training coat improves the thermal insulation effect while reducing the total weight.
As the new outfits and equipment were provided to soldiers in border areas and high altitude, many netizens suspected that it may hint that Chinese soldiers along the China-India border are prepared for a long standoff and the upgrade in clothing is very much "reassured."
The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Wednesday urged India to immediately correct its wrong practices and disengage on the ground as soon as possible, while saying the responsibility for the recent China-India border conflicts lies with India.
The PLA has reportedly installed loudspeakers at areas along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and is playing Punjabi songs to Indian soldiers, a move which sends a message to India that the Indian army is isolated and besieged on all sides, an insider told the Global Times on Thursday.
Experts pointed out that although the Central Military Commission will upgrade the PLA's patrolling supplies on a regular basis to adapt to extreme weather conditions at national borders, the publication of the latest supplies has garnered much attention partly because of the ongoing China-India border tension.
The announcement specifically referred to extremely cold weather on plateaus near the national border, a type of scenario that highly resembles the China-India border. It conveys a subtle message - that China welcomes peace talks, but stands ready for confrontations amid the escalating tensions at the China-India border," Qian Feng, director of the research department at the National Strategy Institute of Tsinghua University in Beijing, told the Global Times on Sunday.
Sources from India said there will be a new round of Corps Commander-level meetings between China and India next week, but China has yet to reply or agree upon a fixed date, the Indian Express reported on Saturday.
The upcoming talks could be seen as an attempt to cool down the border tensions to implement the five-point consensus reached by foreign ministers from both sides, Qian noted.
Frequent high-level talks are a good sign, indicating the willingness of both China and India to solve the current problems through dialogue. However, Qian holds a cautious optimistic attitude for a major breakthrough during the new round of military talks.
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