In a worrying development for India, China is building a bridge across the Pangong Tso (lake) in eastern Ladakh for rapid deployment of its troops on both the banks of the lake.
The two-year-old stand-off between India and China started from Pangong lake when the Chinese troops blocked an Indian patrol leading to exchange of blows.
Situation later turned serious with the Chinese troops transgressed the Line of Actual Control (LAC) at several points leading to a bloody clash in the Galwan valley in 2020.
Twenty Indian Army personnel, including the commanding officer, died in the brawl. China is yet to officially announce the number of casualties it suffered. Indian security establishment says more than 40 Chinese soldiers were killed. Two days back, China unfurled its flag on its side of the LAC in the Galwan valley. Sources said here on Monday that the flag shown in a video released by some Government mouthpieces of China is not in the demilitarised zone mutually agreed upon by both the countries.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi asked the Government to explain the latest development regarding the unfurling of the flag.
Incidentally, the unfurling of the flag and construction of the bridge surfaced two days after the two Armies exchanged gifts and pleasantries on the New Year’s day at some border meeting points all across the LAC.
On the bridge across the 135-km long strategically-crucial Pangong Lake, satellite footage shows the bridge is coming up at the narrow part of the lake in a region called Khurnak in the Chinese area, sources said here on Monday.
Nearly complete and connecting the northern and southern banks of the lake, it will reduce the distance by more than 150 kms for the Chinese, they said.
The bridge was built with pre-fabricated structures with the objective of denying any advantage to India to dominate the southern and northern banks including the hill tops. The Indian Army in 2020 captured the dominating heights weeks after the Galwan clash.
The bridge will now reduce a 150 km loop from Khurnak to the south banks through Rudok, sources said. The bridge will reduce the route from Khurnak to Rudok to 40-50 kms instead of 170 kms they said.
China has two-thirds of the 135 km Pangong Tso and India has the remaining part. The region has seen stand-offs in the past few years with Chinese aggressive patrolling on foot and by boats.
Besides the bridge, the Chinese Army has also built a road leading to the bridge for quicker deployment of troops and weapons, sources said.
The region saw prolonged face-off between the Indian and Chinese troops from September 2020 till February 2021. Following prolonged military and diplomatic level talks, the two sides disengaged from the southern banks of the Pangong Tso in February.
Despite the stand-offs and talks, China ramped up its infrastructure development including roads, bridges and helipads besides military garrisons near the Pangong lake and other flash points in the last few months. At present, more than 50,000 troops each from both the sides are deployed in Eastern Ladakh.
As regards the unfurling of the flag in the Galwan valley, sources said it did not violate the demilitarised zone between the two countries in the area.
In other words, the flag is being flown in undisputed Chinese-held areas, and not near the bend of the river where Indian and Chinese soldiers had clashed in June 2020.
The video and the tweet says, “China’s national flag rise over Galwan Valley on the New Year Day of 2022.” The tweet claims that this flag is special since it once flew over Tiananmen Square in Beijing.
The Chinese mouthpiece the Global Times tweeted, “In the Galwan Valley near the border with #India, under the characters “Never yield an inch of land,” PLA soldiers send new year greetings to Chinese people on January 1, 2022.”
Shen Shiwei, a Chinese State-affiliated media representative, tweeted, “China’s national flag rise over Galwan Valley on the New Year Day of 2022. This national flag is very special since it once flew over Tiananmen Square in Beijing.”
The unfurling of the flag came days after China “renamed” 15 places in Arunachal Pradesh. The government had then put out a sharp reaction, reiterating that the state of Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi in a statement had said on December 30, “We have seen such reports. This is not the first time China has attempted such a renaming of places in the State of Arunachal Pradesh. China had also sought to assign such names in April 2017. Arunachal Pradesh has always been, and will always be an integral part of India. Assigning invented names to places in Arunachal Pradesh does not alter this fact.”
