Washington: A report from the Pentagon has confirmed that China is carrying out major infrastructural development work in the Doklam area on the border with India, where both countries were engaged in a conflict. Moreover, widespread deployment of armed forces has been done by China all along the border, the report adds.
China has already built underground storage facilities, a second bridge on the Pangong Lake, a multipurpose airport, several helipads and roads on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), says the report, titled ‘Military and Security Developments involving the People’s Republic of China - 2023.
Meanwhile, the militaries of India and China are engaged in a face-off on the LOC, even after several rounds of negotiations.
Pentagon’s report also says that in 2022, four Combined Arms Brigades (CABs) were deployed by China in the western sector of the LOC and three each in the eastern and central sectors. Some of these units were later withdrawn, but most are still remaining in these areas.
Indian and Chinese armed forces had engaged in a major confrontation – the biggest in 45 years – at Galwan Valley on June 15, 2020, following which the diplomatic ties between the two neighbours were severely affected. Forces which China had deployed in this region at that time are still present there, adds the Pentagon report.
The report further says that China possesses 500 active nuclear weapons, which would be doubled by 2030.
The worst border crisis between India and China in several decades started in May 2020 when forces of the two countries engaged in physical combat and stone-pelting. Subsequently, the violent confrontation at Galwan in June led to the death of 20 Indians and an unspecified number of Chinese soldiers.
Meanwhile, satellite images of three villages constructed by China on the border with Arunachal Pradesh in India also emerged. It was reported that China had launched efforts to increase its influence in the border areas by settling Chinese people there.
At the same time, the Indian government has made it clear that relations with China could be normalized only after peace is restored on the border.
