The Chinese have temporarily built a defense infrastructure along the actual Line of Control, indicating they are in a long era of tension with India, said Jayadeva Ranade, a former senior AR officer.
Since Xi Jinping’s stop in Tibet last summer, his first as president, the Chinese government has been building defense infrastructure along the Effective Line of Control, saying they are preparing for a long era of tension with India.
The structure of the planned 624 simple ‘xiaokang’ style border defense villages, which had been accelerated, was announced as completed on January 7, 2022.
Troop life is also improving, suggesting plans for a long-term, even permanent, presence of the People’s Liberation Army.
There are already about thirty structured airports on the Tibetan Plateau and Xinjiang.
Now, a report from last January shows that Qinghai Province, which is part of the original Tibet, plans to build 10 new airports by 2025, with at least one airport in the county. In addition, the structure of nine new airports, which began in 2017, will be completed until 2030.
Some of them are strategically such as those of Medok, Nyingtri (opposite Arunachal Pradesh); Dromo County, Shigatse (via Yadong); Purang County, Ngari (on the border of Uttarakhand); and Kyirong (on the border with Nepal).
The others are also in Lhasa and near the borders with India. Construction of five more airports is expected to begin in 2022.
In January this year, the newly appointed chairman of the TAR People’s Government, Yan Jinhai, addressed delegates from Lhasa and Ngari districts about the importance of protecting the border.
In particular, he told delegates in Ngari (Chinese: Ali), unlike Ladakh, to pay special attention to “land and border” cover.
More recently, the TAR’s top official, party secretary Wang Junzheng, did the same.
He told border officials and guards at the Kyirong trading post on the China-Nepal border, as well as in Shigatse, the headquarters of the military district overseeing the Yadong, Chumbi Valley and Doklam regions, to resolutely protect the “southwest border of the motherland” and “build indestructible metal border barriers. “
The TAR secretary also visited the Pangong Lake border police station, where the Chinese government is building a bridge over the lake, and called on border guards to “stay in their post on the ice and snow,” stressing that border security in Tibet is similar to national security. .
These meetings are not reported. Speaking at the meeting, the TAR party secretary “expressed his gratitude and respect to the officers and infantrymen who have been fighting for a long time on the snowy plateau. “
He said Xi Jinping attaches great importance to building the army in Tibet, and over the past year, the ability of officers and infantrymen to prepare for war has been strengthened.
He called on infantrymen and officers to “faithfully carry out their tasks of protecting the country and guarding the borders” and reiterating Xi Jinping’s “orders to prepare for war. “
A few days later, the Metok (Chinese: Medog) county party committee held its economic convention in which two of the 4 timetable pieces focused on national security and border strengthening. (Metok County is strategically situated on the border with Arunachal Pradesh and is also the site of the proposed dam, the world’s largest, on the wondrous bend of the Brahmaputra River. )
Speaking at the meeting, Metok County Party Secretary Wei Changqi reiterated the importance of “guarding the front line and building a Great Steel Wall that protects the border. “
He said it is critical to put in place a “push strategy” and suggested “moving other people from the central spaces to the front line,” while stressing the need to strengthen the structure of settlements in border spaces and ensure that other people move into new homes as soon as possible.
These activities, in addition to other indicators, mean that there will be negligible progress in the ongoing talks at the point of army commanders on withdrawal and also on the solution of the Indochina border.
They recommend that the PLA intend to remain in its existing locations and prepare for additional military operations.
Jayadeva Ranade, a former additional secretary of the Cabinet Secretariat of the Government of India, is chair of the China Centre for Analysis and Strategy. You can check out M. Ranade’s previous articles here
Feature summary: Ashish Narsale/Rediff. com