India expects more clashes with Chinese troops in Himalayas – document

By Krishn Kaushik

NEW DELHI, Jan 28 (Reuters) – A security assessment by
Indian police in the Himalayan region of Ladakh says there could
be more clashes between Indian and Chinese troops along their
contested frontier there as Beijing ramps up military
infrastructure in the region.

At least 24 soldiers were killed when the armies of the
Asian giants clashed in Ladakh, in the western Himalayas, in
2020 but tensions eased after military and diplomatic talks. A
fresh clash erupted between the two sides in the eastern
Himalayas in December but there were no deaths.

The assessment is part of a new, confidential research paper
by the Ladakh Police that was submitted at a conference of top
police officers held from January 20 to 22 and has been reviewed
by Reuters.

The Indian army did not respond to a request for comment and
China’s foreign ministry said the situation along the border was
at present generally stable.

The report said the assessment was based on intelligence
gathered by local police in the border areas and the pattern of
India-China military tensions over the years.

The assessment assumes significance as it was submitted at
the conference in New Delhi which was attended by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi. India’s defence and foreign ministries also did
not respond to requests for comment.

China’s foreign ministry spokesperson’s office on Saturday
said China was maintaining close communication and dialogue
through diplomatic and military channels with India.

“Aksai Chin is an inseparable part of China’s territory,”
the ministry said, referring to a disputed region that lies at
the intersection of China’s Xinjiang and Tibet and to the east
of Ladakh in India.

Since the latest confrontation began in 2020, China has
beefed up infrastructure along the Himalayan frontier, building
facilities for its soldiers deployed there, storehouses for
weapons and ammunition and helipads, among others.

The ministry said carrying out normal construction on its
own territory is a matter entirely within China’s sovereignty.

Referring to China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) the
Indian research paper said, “Given the domestic compulsions …
in China and their economic interests in the region, the PLA
would continue to build up its military infrastructure and
skirmishes would also get frequent which may or may not follow a
pattern.”

“If we analyse the pattern of skirmishes and tensions, the
intensity has increased since 2013-2014 with an interval of
every 2-3 years,” it said.

“With the massive infrastructure build up by PLA on Chinese
side both the armies are testing each other’s reaction, strength
of artillery and infantry mobilization time”.

India and China share a 3,500 km (2,100 miles) border that
has been disputed since the 1950s. The two sides went to war
over it in 1962.
(Reporting by Krishn Kaushik in New Delhi, Yew Lun Tian in
Beijing, Editing by Y.P. Rajesh, Raju Gopalakrishnan and Clelia
Oziel)