Images show China building at disputed border
China has begun building structures inside territory claimed by India, satellite images show, despite calls for calm after hand-to-hand fighting left at least 20 Indian soldiers dead.
Images taken this week show Chinese construction projects in an area across the ‘‘Line of Actual Control’’ in the Galwan Valley that India claims as its own territory. Army commanders on both sides agreed to ‘‘disengage’’ and reduce tensions following the battle last week.
The pictures, from Maxar Technologies, a US space company, feature what seem to be extensive structures on a terrace overlooking the Galwan River, including camouflaged tents or covered buildings against the base of a cliff, and what appears to be a camp with walls and barricades. None of the structures were there before the fighting.
Nathan Ruser, a satellite data expert at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said that the Chinese outpost had ‘‘grown hugely in size . . . Indian troops aren’t dismantling this one.’’
The build-up suggested there was little sign of the de-escalation promised by the Chinese.
‘‘Disengagement really isn’t the word that the Indian government should be using,’’ he tweeted.
On the Indian side, a forward operating position appears to have been scaled back, compared with what could be seen in pictures taken in May, although new defensive barriers are present in the latest images.
India said last week that its soldiers were battered with clubs wrapped in barbed wire and pushed off a cliff as their patrol was ambushed near the Chinese camp. Colonel Santosh Babu, who had led the Indian patrol, was among the first to be killed.
Both sides patrol the area without firearms in line with previous agreements to reduce the chance of violence.
The Chinese have refused to disclose their casualties but blamed India for provocation and ‘‘violently’’ attacking its troops.
‘‘The Chinese border troops resolutely took self-defence measures and struck back at India’s violent acts, effectively safeguarding the national sovereignty and territorial integrity,’’ Wu Qian, a spokesman for China’s defence ministry, said.
Indian and Chinese officials this week reaffirmed that both sides should meet their promises on disengagement and de-escalation
However, India’s foreign ministry accused China yesterday of ‘‘amassing a large contingent of troops and armaments along the LAC . . . not in accordance with the provisions of our various bilateral agreements.’’
India’s army chief, General MM Naravane, visited his troops stationed in the disputed border region this week.
‘‘There is a trust deficit so far as the Chinese are concerned,’’ Deepak Kapoor, the former Indian army chief said.
‘‘If they are telling us verbally they are ready to pull back, we will wait to see it on the ground. Until then the armed forces will be on alert.’’
Hu Xijin, the editor-in-chief of the Global Times, a Communist Party newspaper, reminded Delhi that it was no match for Beijing in terms of military or economic clout.
‘‘Delhi has loud voices but needs to restrain actions,’’ he tweeted.
In India, calls to boycott Chinese products have gained pace. In a symbolic gesture, the Delhi Hotel and Restaurant Owners Association, whose members have 75,000 rooms, said it would bar Chinese guests and boycott Chinese-made products. –