2nd such habitation to come up in/around border State in last few months

Even as the two countries on Thursday agreed to hold another round of military-level talks to restore peace in Ladakh, China has built a village inside Indian territory in Arunachal Pradesh for use both by the troops and village folks. This is the second Chinese village to come up in/around the border State in the last few months.

The fact that the second hamlet, with at least 60 dwelling units, is more than seven kilometres inside India has set alarm bells ringing in the Indian security establishment. The earlier report — which was also flagged by the Pentagon — about China setting up a village with 100 dwelling units,  was refuted by India. New Delhi said the village had come up on a Chinese-controlled territory in 1959 itself.

The second village picked up by satellite images is located about 90 kilometers east of the first village in Subansiri.  It is situated north of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the eastern sector, sources said.

The village came up in the last few months as the satellite images prior to that period for about a year do not show any hamlet in the region.

The new enclave or hamlet as shown by satellite image providers Maxar Technologies and Planet Labs clearly show buildings and a Chinese flag to lay claim to the area. It is located in the Shi-Yomi district.  In fact, President XI Jingping had visited a location close to this hamlet a few weeks back.

When the Pentagon a few days back pointed out the existence of the first village, India reacted sharply and said, ‘’China has undertaken construction activities in the past several years along the border areas, including in the areas that it has illegally occupied over the decades. India has neither accepted such illegal occupation of our territory nor has it accepted the unjustified Chinese claims.’’

Moreover, the Indian security establishment had then said the hamlet is in territory controlled by China. It was also clarified that the village with more than 100 dwelling units was built in the area under Chinese control since 1959.  The Chinese forces overran an Assam Rifles post then and maintained an Army post since then.

Last month, Eastern Army Command chief Lieutenant General Manoj Pande, told reporters visiting Arunachal Pradesh that China continued to construct “dual-use” border villages which can also be used to position soldiers.

China’s policy of building up habitations along the LAC in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh is a part of a multi-billion dollar plan to ramp up infrastructure in the Tibet region. This includes the development of massive road and rail infrastructure to border towns and a plan to reportedly build more than 600 fully developed villages in the region.