China ups patrol at strategic lake India verifying if China built road in Shaksgam Valley
SURVEILLANCE It was near Pangong lake between Ladakh and Tibet Autonomous Region that Indian and Chinese soldiers clashed last August over allegations of territorial intrusions
People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has developed and deployed a new type of nonmetallic patrol boat on the Pangong lake that falls between Ladakh in India and Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) to strengthen its border forces.
It has also built a surveillance camera network and is planning to deploy a satellite early-warning monitoring system in some border areas, state media reports said. It was near the strategic Pangong lake, located at a height of more than 4,250 metres near the disputed border between the two countries, that Indian and Chinese soldiers clashed last August over allegations of territorial intrusions.
The area has a history of confrontation between border troops of the two countries.
Last year’s incident occurred in the midst of the military standoff in Doklam near the Sikkim border. The deployment of new patrol boats is part of PLA’s larger plan of strengthening its border outposts.
“At Pangong Lake, which at an altitude of 4,250 metres is divided between Southwest China's TAR and India, the PLA has put a new patrol boat into use, made of non-metallic materials. The craft has a top speed of 40 kilometres per hour and can resist ice collisions,” the Beijing Evening News said in a report.
In February, China had announced that it was upgrading the air defence of its Western Theatre Command, which looks after the security along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), to “confront any threat from India.”
The PLA had then released photographs of a J-10 fighter jet—a lightweight multi-role fighter aircraft—along with
BEIJING:China’s
J-11—a single-seat, twin-engine fighter jet—flying over the highaltitude plateau in western China.
The new report said the PLA was plugging gaps in its management and monitoring of border areas, especially areas with extreme climate and hostile terrain. The report, quoted by the nationalistic tabloid, Global Times, didn’t specify – other than the mention of Pangong lake – but implied that deployment of at least some of the “new types of equipment” could be along the disputed border with India. “A satellite early-warning monitoring system is planned in some border areas that are in dispute or are difficult to enter and to patrol,” the Beijing Evening News reported.
“A surveillance camera network has also been built in border zones, and the density of coverage is set to increase to cover blind spots, although the report did not mention which, or if all, of China's border regions are covered,” the report added.
“The informatisation and mechanisation of equipment, vehicles and monitoring methods of PLA border defence will give an early warning of any risks to security as well as overcoming previous blind spots,” Song Zhongping, a military expert, told the Global Times.
The report implied that in the jungles of southwest China’s Yunnan, the sparsely populated deserts of Xinjiang in the northwest and the high plateaus in Tibet, “…PLA troops began using drones to patrol more areas than 10 years ago, which has resulted in a 25-fold increase in efficiency”.
The report added that border troops in Koktokay in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region recently tested more than 20 types of new equipment.
“Koktokay, in northern Xinjiang and bordering Mongolia, has an average temperature of -20 degree Celsius in winter. A new type of hot water bottle that can keep water hot for 24 hours has been issued to soldiers in Koktokay.”
government is trying to ascertain the credibility and veracity of intelligence reports claiming that China has built around 70km of metalled road between September 2017 and February 2018 in Shaksgam Valley, around 5,163 sq km of which was illegally ceded by Islamabad to Beijing in a controversial 1963 boundary agreement.
While intelligence and reconnaissance reports indicate the presence of a road, South Block has asked for an assessment detailing the reasons and military objectives that may have prompted China to build a road west of the strategic Karakoram pass, in the Shaksgam Valley. That this construction has happened in winter months, when such activities are rarely undertaken, is significant. Bound by K2 and Gasherbrum peaks to the South and Aghil Mountains to the north, the Valley is populated by 7,000-metre plus peaks, high mountain passes and witnesses arctic temperatures in winters.
China watchers believe that the road is being built for high mountain climbing and tourism purposes, but India’s security agencies are wary of a simplistic explanation, say South Block officials. There’s a fear that this could be part of the realignment of the Karakoram highway in order to keep the 1,300km road linking Pakistan Punjab to Kashgar in Xinjiang snow-free throughout the year. The Karakoram highway is at the heart of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which India has objected to as it runs through Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. CPEC provides Beijing access to Persian Gulf and Arabian sea via the Gwadar port in Balochistan.
Although New Delhi will take up the issue with its two neighbours once the purpose of building the road becomes clearer, senior officials having access to satellite imagery of the region say they are convinced that the alignment of the Karakoram highway is being changed. This could also have strategic implications for India in the Daulet Beg Oldi and Siachen sectors, with the two all weather friends sandwiching Indian positions, the officials say.
Post resolution of the Doklam stand-off, the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) has replaced para-military Peoples Armed Police along the 3,488kilometre long Line of Actual Control (LAC) with troops doing training exercises, with some of these carried out in peak winter with oxygen cylinders . The Chinese aerial activity in Ladakh and Barahoti sectors has increased with PLA troops trying to achieve 100 per cent patrolling objectives or else indulging in face-offs, South Block officials said.
The importance of a status quo with neither India nor China undertaking unilateral moves to undermine the peace and tranquillity on the borders will be a topic of conversation with national security advisor Ajit Doval, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and PM visiting China in the run-up to SCO summit in June, they added.
IN FEBRUARY THIS YEAR, CHINA HAD ANNOUNCED THAT IT WAS UPGRADING THE AIR DEFENCE OF ITS WESTERN THEATRE COMMAND, WHICH LOOKS AFTER THE SECURITY ALONG THE LINE OF ACTUAL
CONTROL. TO ‘CONFRONT ANY THREAT FROM INDIA’ NEWDELHI:The