The military strengthening of China’s air defenses along the border with India began after the Doklam crisis of 2017.
New Delhi:
The 2017 Doklam crisis that unfolded between China and India in a part of Bhutan located east of Sikkim ” appears to have changed China’s strategic objectives, with China more than doubling its total number of air bases, air defense positions and heliports near India. border for the past three years. “
Details of the Chinese expansion, accessed by NDTV, are detailed in a yet to be published report from Stratfor, a leading global geopolitical intelligence platform. The report describes the construction of China’s military infrastructure through a detailed analysis of satellite images of military installations that have a direct relationship with the security of India.
“The timing of the Chinese construction of military facilities along the border with India just before the ongoing clash in Ladakh suggests that these border tensions are part of a much larger effort by China to assert control over its border regions,” says Sim Tack. Stratfor senior global analyst and report author.
Significantly, China’s upgrade of its military infrastructure is far from complete. “The expansion and construction of military infrastructure in most cases is still underway, so the Chinese military activity that we are seeing along the border with India today is just the beginning of a longer-term intention. “says the report.
The consequences of this for India, which has been involved in a violent clash with China in eastern Ladakh since the beginning of May, seem clear. “Upon completion, this infrastructure will support an even greater intensity of Chinese operations.”
According to the report, China has “started building at least 13 completely new military positions near its borders with India.” This includes three air bases, five permanent air defense positions, and five helipads. ” Construction began on four of these new heliports. only after the start of the current Ladakh crisis in May, “he says.
Chinese military expansion along the Indian border includes the creation of air bases, electronic warfare facilities, helipads, and air defense sites.
China’s military build-up along the border with India, the report says, is part of a larger strategy similar to its goals in the South China Sea, where Beijing has dredged land around small coral atolls to develop bases. air and naval facilities in every rule.
Several countries in the Asia-Pacific belt have categorically rejected Beijing’s claim that the area is within its jurisdiction. In May this year, India, which upholds freedom of navigation on international waterways together with the United States, said: “ The South China Sea is part of the world’s common heritage and India has an abiding interest in peace and stability in the region. ” – comments that may irritate Beijing, which is wary of India’s close strategic partnership with Washington.
By applying the same strategy along its land border with India, “China aims to discourage Indian resistance or military action during future border disputes by ostentatiously demonstrating its ability and intention to engage in military engagements.”
The key to trying to expand its military dominance in the area is China’s emphasis on strengthening its air power. ” The Chinese military is currently building four similar air defense positions within existing air bases and other facilities. This includes additional runways as well as aircraft shelters that will help conceal the true presence of fighter jets at these observation bases. ”
In May this year, NDTV reported how satellite images show massive construction activity at Tibet’s Ngari-Gunsa Airport, located just 200 kilometers from Pangong Lake, where Indian and Chinese soldiers remain at a standstill in both. shores of the lake. The construction of this base was intended to support the deployment of fighter jets of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force, including the J-11 and J-16, local variants of the Sukhoi-30 fighter jet, which is the mainstay of Indian Air. Force. Construction on this base is believed to have expanded substantially since the publication of the NDTV report.
India and China are continuing multi-level talks to try to untie forces along the Royal Line of Control in Ladakh. The latest round of talks between generals from both sides that began in Mondo near Moldo on the southern shore of Lake Pangong lasted about 13 hours. There are no immediate indicators of a breakout. At least 20 Indian soldiers, including a colonel and an unknown number of Chinese soldiers, were killed in clashes in Ladakh with Chinese forces that blocked the patrol points of the Indian army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) across the border. . India, for its part, has been ahead of a similar move in South Pangong, where it currently dominates Chinese positions. Both sides continue to fight for the highlands on both shores of Lake Pangong, sometimes at altitudes close to 20,000 feet.
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