The u.s last week in a report said that
beijing was taking incremental and
tactical actions to press its claims in
the lack. This was taking place despite beijing
participating in talks with india to
resolve the ongoing crisis which began
last year. Officials tell one india that any
breakthrough that could happen would
have to be at the diplomatic level, while military-level talks are important
it is very crucial that this issue has
to be sorted out at the diplomatic level
only, the official also said.
The Indian army chief general M M Narevane had said that there is no end
in sight to the standoff. He said that if the people's liberation
army is there to stay in the Ladakh
theater then so is the indian
army. Meanwhile the annual report of the
united states department report on
military developments involving china
also referred to the creation of a 100
home chinese village in Arunachal Pradesh.
Sometime in 2020 the people's republic
of china built a large 100-home civilian
village inside disputed territory
between the PRC's Tibet autonomous
region and india's Arunachal Pradesh
state in the eastern sector of the lak. The report said in a chapter about the
china-india border standoff. These and other infrastructure
development efforts along the india
china have been a source of
consternation in the indian government
and media, the report also said.
Despite the ongoing diplomatic and
military dialogues to reduce border
tensions, the PRC has continued taking
incremental and tactical actions to
press its claims at the Lack, the report
noted.
In february 2021 the Central Military Commission (CMC) announced posthumous
awards for four PLA soldiers though the
total number of PRC casualties remains
unknown. The report noted while referring
to the Galwan valley clash.
Asserting that its deployments to the
lack were in response to indian
provocation beijing has refused to
withdraw any forces until india's forces
have withdrawn behind the PRC's version
of the lack and ceased infrastructure
improvements in the area, the report also
said. As the stalemate between india and china
drags on along the fiercely contested
line of actual control the de facto
border between the two countries the
mountainous region of Ladakh is seeing a
major infrastructure overhaul, triggering
both hope and fear among the local
people.
New tunnels and roads are being carved
out in the toughest terrains of the Himalayan region where temperatures
plummet to as low as minus 40 degrees
celsius, minus 40 fahrenheit. Even the remotest border villages are
now being connected to the telephone
network and the internet through fiber
optic cables powered by solar
electricity generation units.
Indeed work on infrastructural overhauls
like roads and internet connectivity has
gained pace after the border conflict
between india and china erupted last
year, said Konchok Stanzan. Stanzan as a local councillor from the Pong Gong sector a frontier area that
has seen a massive deployment of troops
since last year.
Pong Gong-So lake the world's highest
blue water indorek lake spanning eastern Ladakh and West Tibet at an elevation of
14,000, ft
4,270 meters above the sea level was a
widely publicized friction point between
the troops of both countries last year. Work on an erstwhile narrow unpaved road
running parallel to the south bank of
the lake has started since then, a 24-foot wide seven-meter black-topped
road has come up to the Lac, connecting
the villages of Man Merrick and Chushul.
The lake is also a world famous tourist
destination. since january one third of
the pong gong so lake that remains in
indian control has been opened by new
delhi for tourism. The movement of tourists is being
allowed up to merrick a picturesque
village of about 40 houses on the south
bank of the lake.
However for Tenzin Dorje of man village
new roads and bridges are an indication
of impending trouble. Since last year the movement of indian
army vehicles in the area has increased. It was peaceful here until last year, "We
were doing business as usual but now
everyone can feel the undercurrents of a
crisis that could unfold anytime," said
the 60 year old Dorjee.
