China sets up new camps near Niti Pass at LAC, PLA building roads and helipads
Sources in the defence and security establishment said that the Chinese have been focusing on air connectivity in the middle sector opposite Uttarakhand. The Chinese side has been realigning and building a new link road and helipads at Sarang, Poling Jindu, which is opposite to India's Niti Pass.
FollowAfter northern and eastern sectors, China has now entered a relatively peaceful Line of Actual Control in the central sector bordering the Indian states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, enhancing its military infrastructure and connectivity.
The border standoff between the militaries of India and China continued in eastern Ladakh for about four years, with heavy deployment of men and machines along the LAC. They also clashed in the Galwan Valley in 2020 which led to casualties on both sides. The latest development comes months after India and the United States conducted their joint exercise 'Yudh Abhyas' in the middle sector at Auli, which is about 100 km from the LAC.
Sources in the defence and security establishment said that the Chinese have been focusing on air connectivity in the middle sector opposite Uttarakhand. The Chinese side has been realigning and building a new link road and helipads at Sarang, Poling Jindu, which is opposite to India's Niti Pass.
"New People Liberation of Army (PLA) camps have been constructed near Niti Pass and Tunjun Pass," sources added.
In a war-like situation, the sources said that the helipads would enable faster movement of troops and equipment.
Closed since the 1962 Sino India war, the Niti Pass was an ancient trading route between India and Tibet, which was annexed by China in 1951. Besides, the sources said, the Chinese are about to complete a border settlement village which is 45 km away from Tholing in the same sector. Few meters away from the village, they have also built a military complex.
Defence and strategic affairs analyst Major General Sudhakar Jee (Retd) said: "Beijing wants to tire India down by executing a strategic encirclement effectively around India. Besides raising the cost of enhanced soldiers density extended standoff for past over 3 years, China is activating dormant sectors like the middle sector to tire down additional Indian troops further and cause imbalance in national security strategy."
"This would enable China to create vulnerabilities in the Indian Ocean region (IOR) to exploit Chinese strengths of PLA (N) in the maritime strategic rivalry of India’s backyard," he said, adding, "India, therefore, has to adopt a balanced approach and focus on maritime threats by capitalising collaborative groupings of like-minded nations to address the same without compromising security along the continental boundary."
In December, Asianet Newsable had reported that India has been giving impetus to bolster its military preparedness and infrastructure in the middle sector in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, in the wake of China's transgressions along the Line of Actual Control from the northern sector to the eastern sector in recent years.
The Middle Sector has yet not seen any serious Chinese breach of Indian territory, although some incidents have been reported in Uttarakhand’s Barahoti area.
India has been rapidly carrying out several infrastructure development projects, including road and bridge building. Indian troops can now reach the most important access points -- the mountainous passes -- often even before the Chinese ground troops come for patrolling.
There are over 20 such passes along the border area in that sector, including the boundary shared between Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. India and China share a 3,488-km-long LAC spread from the northern sector in Ladakh to the eastern sector in Arunachal Pradesh, out of which 545-km-long LAC falls under the Middle Sector.
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