As face-offs persist at some friction points at the border in Ladakh, China has ramped up its infrastructure capabilities on its side there, and this development is “alarming,” and “eye-opening, a top General of the USA said here on Wednesday.
He termed it as “destabilising and corrosive behaviour”.
These observations by Commanding General, US Army Pacific, General Charles A Flynn came days after The Pioneer reported that China was building a second bridge on the Pangong Tso (lake) in Eastern Ladakh to enable its tanks and armoured vehicles to rush to the front quickly.
The first stand-off snowballing into a major crisis in 2020 started from the Pangong Tso.
Taking note of the rapid development of infrastructure including roads, bridges, airfields, and helipads close to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) on its side in the Ladakh region, Flynn said these activities are “eye-opening”. He also said some of the infrastructures under construction created are “alarming”.
He described it as “destabilising and corrosive behaviour” by China and said, “I believe that the activity level is ‘eye-opening’”.
“I think some of the infrastructures that are being created in the Western Theatre Command are alarming. And so much, like across all of their military arsenal, one has to ask the question, why,” he said during an interaction with journalists.
Flynn said China’s “incremental and insidious path and destabilising and corrosive behaviour” projected onto the region was “simply not helpful”.
“I think it is worthy of us working together as a counterweight to some of those corrosive and corrupted behaviours that the Chinese [demonstrate],” said the General.
Flynn said when one sees China’s military arsenal in all domains, one must ask the question why is it needed. “So, I do not have a crystal ball to tell you how it (India-China border standoff) is going to end or where we will be at. I will express to you that it is worthy of asking this question and try to get their response as to what are their intentions” he noted.
Welcoming the ongoing talks to resolve the dispute at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, he said behaviour matters here as well. “So, understanding what they are saying is one thing, but the way they are acting and behaving by the way of build-up is concerning. It should be concerning to every one of us,” he noted.
Flynn also talked about how the behaviour of China has changed between 2014 and 2022. “I was in this command from 2014 to 2018 as the commander of the 25th infantry division and then the deputy commanding general of my current command (United States Army Pacific) as a two-star general. Then I left and went to the Pentagon to be the operations officer for the Army for three years and I came back a year ago,” he noted.
The visiting General said when he looks back on what the CCP and the PRC (People’s Republic of China) were doing then to what they are doing today, it can be said they have taken an incremental and insidious path.
“I think it is worthy of us working together as a counterweight to some of those corrosive and corruptive behaviours that the Chinese do,” he said.
India and China have held 15 rounds of military-level talks besides several rounds of parleys on the diplomatic level to defuse tension at the LAC in Ladakh for the last more than two years.
The two sides held diplomatic level talks last month under the aegis of Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination(WMCC) agreeing to continue discussions on outstanding issues and to convene the next meeting of senior military commanders at an early date.
During the talks, the two sides reviewed the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Western Sector of the India-China border areas. They recalled that since the last meeting of the WMCC in November 2021, both sides have held the 14th and 15th meetings of the Senior Corps Commanders in January and March 2022 respectively.
Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi had also visited India in March 2022 and held discussions with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and the National Security Advisor(NSA)Ajit Doval.
Meanwhile, the visiting US General held talks with Army Chief General Manoj Pande on Tuesday and IAF chief VR Chaudhari on Wednesday on ways to boost military cooperation.
“Issues of mutual interest and ways to enhance bilateral defence cooperation were discussed,” the Indian Air Force (IAF) tweeted.
Flynn also met the Vice Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General BS Raju. The two officers discussed various aspects of mutual interest, according to an official.