BEIJING – An Indian road construction project connecting all border postsalong the China-India frontier could lead to new military standoffs betweenChina and India, Chinese experts warned on Wednesday.
During his New Year visit to the “Indo-Tibet Border Police” at Nelongvalley in Uttarkashi district bordering China on Monday, Indian Union HomeMinister Rajnath Singh said that a number of border posts had already beenconnected with roads and many would soon be linked, The Times of Indiareported on Monday.
Singh added that “this would enhance the operational efficiency of theofficers and reduce mountain-related sickness among them,” said the report.
He also promised that special lightweight winter clothing, snow scooters,all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and mountaineering equipment would be providedto the border troops.
India is clearly preparing for war, and it is drawing much experience fromthe defeat it swallowed in 1962 when it lacked such an infrastructure, WangDehua, head of the Institute for South and Central Asian Studies at theShanghai Municipal Center for International Studies, told the Global Times.
The road infrastructure will surely enhance Indian border forcemaneuverability, but also increases the possibility of confrontationsbetween the patrols of the two countries as the border issues remainunsettled in many of these areas, Qian Feng, a researcher at the ChineseAssociation for South Asian Studies and a senior fellow of TsinghuaUniversity’s National Strategy Institute, told the Global Times.
It also shows the double-faced nature of the Modi administration as itpromised to safeguard the stability of the border area but has insteadcontinued to prepare for military operations against China, Qian added.
According to Qian, such a mentality would make it more difficult to improveSino-Indian ties.
China and India have established a border management mechanism, throughwhich both sides are expected to handle border issues.
Both sides have an interest in safeguarding peace and stability along theborder areas between China and India, Geng Shuang, a Chinese ForeignMinistry spokesperson, said during a daily press conference held onWednesday.