China has deployed bombers, armored vehicles and heavy artillery in addition to special forces, as well as infantry units along the border with India, state media reports said on Wednesday, in a rare acknowledgment of what appears to be a massive mobilization. of troops and equipment along the disputed border. .
Usually the official media highlights exercises in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) to demonstrate its military might along the border with India as it did last August, and repeatedly during the Doklam (Donglang) clash in 2017. .
The most blatant display of military might, including the departures of Chinese fighter jets near the border, is reserved for Taiwan, an autonomous democracy that Beijing sees as a renegade region that wants to unify with the mainland, by force if necessary. .
The words “deployment” or “mobilization” are rarely used in the context of the border with India.
The state nationalist tabloid Global Times said in a report Wednesday that “bombers, air defense troops, artillery, armored vehicles, paratroopers, special forces and infantry units” have mobilized from across the country to the border.
“H-6 bombers and Y-20 large transport aircraft attached to the Air Force of the Central Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) have been deployed to the Tibetan Plateau region for training missions, the command revealed. Tuesday, the Global Times report said.
A report by the China National Central Television (CCTV) broadcaster said that HJ-10 anti-tank missile systems connected to the Army of PLA Group 71 were recently transported from east China’s Jiangsu Province to the Gobi desert in northwest China, which is more than 1,600 km away.
For the PLA, it would be easier to send troops and equipment northwest from the Gobi desert region.
“An air defense brigade under the PLA’s 72nd Army Group also mobilized to the northwestern region in the fall and conducted confrontational drills with live fire with cannons and anti-aircraft missiles,” CCTV reported on Friday.
A separate CCTV report said that paratroopers and heavy equipment aboard the PLA Air Force transport plane recently conducted a multi-dimensional area capture and control exercise, also in the deserts of northwest China.
News reports did not specify since when troops were being mobilized from different parts of China to the border. But they attributed the movement of troops and equipment to the ongoing border tension in eastern Ladakh.
The reports added that the soldiers, weapons and aircraft were moved near the border areas not only from different parts of China but also from different theater commands.
The border area between China and India is under the PLA’s Western Theater Command (WAC), the largest among its five command theaters covering the geography of the continent.
Several troop divisions deployed to the desert areas of northwest China in Xinjiang and the TAR of southwest China were ordered to conduct live fire drills and complex military maneuvers.
The Chinese military experts HT contacted did not comment on the deployment.
India has repeatedly and consistently rejected China’s accusations that Indian troops crossed to the Chinese side of the Royal Line of Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, stating that New Delhi has always taken a responsible approach towards border management and maintaining peace and tranquility in the country. border areas.
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