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Tempers flare at Sino-Indian border
KOLKATA: The Indo-Pak border is not the only place where tempers are flaring up.
India has put its troops on alert on the eastern front as well in response to
"so called hostile actions" by China in recent weeks.
China has, over the last two months, demolished 24 border pillars in the Dibang
and Lohit districts of Arunachal Pradesh. Flag meetings held between the local
army commanders of two countries have been unsuccessful and while the Indian
army continues to rebuild the demolished posts along the Line of Actual Control
(LAC), China has been continuing in its demolition spree.
A couple of months ago, China staked claim to some areas twenty kilometers
within India in Sikkim. Alarmed over such belligerent Chinese moves, the Eastern
Command has sent a report to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) asking for induction
of more troops into the region to meet possible 'adventurism' by China.
"It is an alarming situation. China has made such intermittent moves in the
past, but this time, it seems to be synchronised and with a purpose. We have put
the troops on alert and moved in additional forces to the border areas,"
said a top-ranking army officer. China's moves along the LAC come at a time when
it has upgraded communication links in its own side of the border.
China reportedly objected to some nomads constructing hutments near a stream 20
kilometres within Indian territory in Sikkim. "Chinese troops and officers
entered Indian territory and told the nomads not to construct the huts since it
was Chinese territory.
"When we received information, we objected and the Chinese did give up the
claim, but they requested access for their nomads to the stream. The matter is
unresolved, but the very fact that they entered India and staked claim to areas
well within our boundaries is something that has to be viewed with concern. This
has happened in the past in Sikkim," said the officer.
Indian and Chinese troops clashed many times in 1965-66 at Nathu La in Sikkim.
"The latest incursion must be viewed in the background of Chinese claim
over the whole of Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. We must not forget that China
holds on to over 90,000 square kilometers of erstwhile NEFA (now
Arunachal) following the 1962 aggression," the officer added.
Heightening tensions along border part of China's gameplan
The “hostile actions?by the Chinese in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim is,
according to strategic experts, part of a well-thought-out move to corner India
on two fronts. China has also beefed up its presence in Myanmar’s Coco Islands
on the Bay of Bengal and plans to move in two aircraft carriers that are under
construction now to the area. “India cannot concentrate exclusively on the
western theatre with Pakistan if China undertakes these measures along Arunachal
and Sikkim. And it could well be that it is goading Pakistan to anti-Indian
actions in Rajasthan, Punjab and Kashmir. A distracted India is a weaker India
and China stands to gain the most from it,?pointed out a senior army
officer.
In fact, say serving and retired officer, the situation now is quite similar to
the pre-1962 situation when Beijing lulled New Delhi into a false sense of
complacency.
China constructed a load linking Tibet with Xinjiang Ugyur region in 1961. This
road passed through Aksai Chin area of India and to thwart any further moves by
Chibna, India sent its troops to defend that territory in November 1961. By
October 1962, China launched a full-scale aggression.
“This time, too, China has started acting on its claims over Arunachal and
Sikkim and has constructed roads and rail links right up to our borders. It is
encouraging new Chinese towns just across the border to spill over slowly into
India. It is upgrading its formidable military infrastructure in the Small Coco
and Great Coco Islands by stationing radar squadrons, extending two runways and
beefing up the naval base there.
"At the same time, Chinese leaders are talking of peaceful resolution of
the border issue with India and are trying to charm the Indian leadership into
thinking that China is no threat to India. Our Foreign Minister said as much
when he visited Beijing in June 1999, though our Defence Minister did say in
April 1998 that China continues to represent a security threat to us,?said a
retired army officer who did not want to be named.
China, said a strategic expert, has a “long memory?and has never shied away on
taking concrete action on its territorial claims.
“Look at tactics China has employed to keep Japan and other countries on a
leash. Apart from keeping India under pressure on the eastern front, China has
been employing Pakistan as a surrogate belligerent to jeopardize India’s
security,?said an analyst.
China has also been sending out conflicting signals—a few months after Jaswant
Singh declared that China was no security threat to India, Chinese President
Jiang Zemin made highly derogatory references to India while speaking to
President Bill Clinton.
Zemin reportedly said that India would be dealt with strongly if it does not
stop providing shelter to Tibetan refugees and continues to oppose China’s
efforts to integrate Arunachal and Sikkim with the rest of that country. The
USA’s Central Intelligence Agency sums it the best: “Beijing treats India as
a country to be threatened, belittled and kept in check? This, and other such
assessments by the CIA, can be found in the CIA Factbooks.
According to the army sources, India will take at least a decade to upgrade its
infrastructure in the North East to what China has on its side of the LAC now.
It is learnt that the Indian Air Force (IAF) installations in the eastern and
northeastern region have also been put on alert.
China has been building a number of roads over inhospitable stretches in Tibet.
It recently upgraded an unused railway track from its interior areas to Lhasa in
Tibet to a broad gauge line. "All the roads and highways that China has
built in the recent past lead up to our borders and are not economically
viable.
The only reason they could have been built was to carry troops and armour,"
said another top-ranking officer from an Assam-based Corps that has Arunachal in
its jurisdiction. Over the past two decades, China has been settling people from
other provinces in the areas bordering Arunachal and many new townships-La-kang-tsung,
Lung, Mikyimdun, Damze, P'i-p'o, Dimi and Lema among them-have come up in recent
times.
"In fact, Chinese troops demolished border pillars along the LAC in Dibang
Valley adjoining a major town that has sprung up on the other side of the
border. This township is threatening to spill over into Arunachal now,"
said the officer.
While reserve forces have been mobilised and sent to the areas along the LAC,
the Eastern Command wants more troops inducted into Arunachal and Sikkim.
"That's in the short-term perspective. In the long run, we have to upgrade
infrastructure-road, rail and communication links-in the North East, especially
Arunachal and Sikkim that China claims as its own. We can ignore the threat from
China only at our peril," said Eastern Command-based officer.
Source: The Hindustan Times
Submitted by: Steve
Harrison
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