Chinese ratchet up confrontation in India’s north east
On 17 July 2017, the Chinese Army conducted fire power exercises in Tibet, close to India’s border in Arunachal Pradesh, amid the ongoing standoff between Indian and Chinese troops at
the Doklam area in the Sikkim sector. The Chinese 6th Brigade that reportedly conducted the drills was from the PLA’s Tibet Military Command and is one of two plateau mountain brigades (part of their 141 Division in the Chumbi Valley). Reportedly, this brigade has long been stationed around the middle and lower reaches of the Brahmaputra (Yarlung Zangbo in Chinese) river which flows into India and Bangladesh and is responsible for frontline combat missions. The exercise included the quick reinforcement of troops and different military units working together on joint attacks. The vital Siliguri corridor is defended by the Indian Army’s XXXIII Corps, of which the 17th Mountain Division is integral and whose 63rd Brigade is reportedly guarding this sector.
Earlier a PLA spokesman Col Wu Qian spoke in tough language while making a reference to the 1962 Sino-India conflict, saying that New Delhi should “learn historical lessons”. Qian described Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat’s remarks that India was ready for a “two-and-a-half front war” as “extremely irresponsible”. Thereafter, Indian Defence Minister Arun Jaitley had made New Delhi’s stand clear when he said the India of 2017 was different from that of 1962. Of the 3,488-km-long India-China border from Jammu and Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh, a 220-km section falls in Sikkim.