China constructs 3 villages; satellite images show structures set up in Arunachal

ITANAGAR: Yet another territorial claim has come up along the Arunachal Pradesh border. According to a latest report, China has constructed at least 3 villages, which Aare approximately 5 km from the Bum La pass close to the tri-junction between India, China and Bhutan in western Arunachal Pradesh.

atest satellite images suggest that construction work is on in Bhutanese sovereign territory, just 7 km from the Doklam face-off site between Indian and Chinese forces in 2017.

According to a report by NDTV, the villages lie within Chinese territory and were being constructed at the same time that Indian and Chinese soldiers faced off in Eastern Ladakh. The satellite images have been acquired from Planet Labs and they show a village constructed in the area by February 17, 2020. Image from November 28, 2020 shows an addition of three additional enclaves with at least 50 structures. The report says that all of the enclaves are connected with tarred, all-weather roads.

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This comes amid India and China’s on and off border issues. The latter disputes the legal status of the boundary in this region. In fact, Chinese maps continue to show 65,000 square km of territory south of the line as being a part of Beijing's South Tibet Region. India, on the other hand has been rejecting Beijing's claim for decades. It insists that the historic McMohan line proposed by the British administrator Sir Henry McMohan at the 1914 Simla Convention defines the boundary in the area.

The images may yet again stir the Indo-China border dispute in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. With the new structures along the border could be a significant step towards reinforcing its territorial claims along the Arunachal Pradesh frontier.

“China has been using a strategy of settling Han Chinese and Tibetan members of the Communist Party along the India border to strengthen its territorial claims and escalate border intrusions,” the report quotes China-watcher Dr. Brahma Chellaneystating.

He adds, “Like it used fishermen in the South China Sea, China uses civilian resources - herders and grazers - as the tip of the spear to intrude into Indian-patrolled Himalayan areas.”

It may be mentioned here that in September 2017, Chief of Defence Staff, General Bipin Rawat, then Army Chief, had warned of China's efforts at `salami slicing' into Indian territory. In February 2020, China objected to Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh, saying the visit had violated its territorial sovereignty and “sabotaged” mutual trust with India. He had visited the Eastern State to attend functions related to its 34th Statehood Day.

“China’s position on the eastern sector of the China-India boundary, or the southern part of China’s Tibet region, is consistent and clear,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Geng Shuang, had said responding to a question on the visit from the Chinese state media. 0

He had further added that the Chinese government had never recognised the so-called ‘Arunachal Pradesh’ and had been firmly opposing to the Indian politician’s visit to the southern part of China’s Tibet region as it violated China’s territorial sovereignty and undermined stability of the border area.

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