After May 1961, with the new command set-up in place—with Thapar as chief and Kaul as the CGS—there was a shift in the pattern of protests as the stakes were raised by the highly publicized Forward Policy. Though there was no major clash in the remaining months of 1961, there was enough activity in both Ladakh and NEFA for the Chinese to give a grim warning in their note of 30 November ‘that they would have every reason to send troops across the McMahon Line and enter the vast area between the crest of the Himalayas and the southern foot’.
