MOSCOW – New satellite imagery has revealed that China is building anenormous military complex just miles from the site of their 10-weekstandoff with the Indian military along the Doklam Plateau over the summerof 2017, Sputnik has reported.
The new photos reveal that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) compound isabout six miles east of where the Indian forces camped during the standoff.The construction includes trenches, barracks and multiple helipads. Whatappear to be artillery gun emplacements have also been dug, but arepresently unoccupied by any heavy weaponry.[image: Indian army soldiers walk along the line of control at the IndoChina border in Bumla at an altitude of 15,700 feet (4,700 meters) abovesea level in Arunachal Pradesh, India. (File)]
Furthermore, Chinese troops and armored vehicles have built up in the area,including a full mechanized regiment of what appear to be ZBL-09 infantryfighting vehicles — which can be equipped with howitzers and anti-aircraftsuites.
When asked about the construction on Wednesday, Indian Army Chief of StaffBipin Rawat downplayed it as temporary. “As far as Doklam is concerned, PLAsoldiers are there in a part of the area, although not in numbers that wesaw them in initially. They have carried out some infrastructuredevelopment, which is mostly temporary in nature,” he told reporters.
Rawat added that it was possible that the facility was simply to shieldChinese military equipment from the elements during the brutal Tibetanwinter. “While [Chinese] troops may have returned and infrastructureremains, it is anybody’s guess whether they would come back [to Doklam], oris it because of the winters that they could not take their equipment. Butwe are also there, so in case they come, we will face them.”[image: Soldiers of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) take part in amilitary parade to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the foundation ofthe army at the Zhurihe military training base in Inner Mongolia AutonomousRegion, China, July 30, 2017]
The Doklam Plateau went from a remote, virtually-uninhabited mountain rangealong the disputed border of China and Bhutan to one of the most importantgeopolitical sites in the world overnight, when on June 16 PLA soldiers andconstruction workers arrived to build a road through the plateau.
Beijing calls the region “Donglang” and claims that it is Tibetan territoryand as such, China has the right to build whatever it likes there. Bhutanprotested China’s presence, and India intervened by deploying troops to thedisputed territory.
For 10 weeks, PLA and Indian military troops faced off a few hundred metersapart. Both nations pulled their troops back on August 28 following quietnegotiations between the two powers and the road-building came to an end.[image: A man walks inside a conference room used for meetings betweenmilitary commanders of China and India, at the Indian side of theIndo-China border at Bumla, in the northeastern Indian state of ArunachalPradesh, November 11, 2009]
However, local media outlets reported in October that China had continuedto maintain a large military presence near the disputed region, with Indiannewspapers reporting that the PLA was building permanent military barracksand maintaining a force of a thousand soldiers a few miles away from thedisputed line.
In October, the Indian External Affairs Ministry denied the veracityof reports of Chinese construction. “We have seen recent reports on Doklam.There are no new developments at the face-off site and its vicinitysince the August 28 disengagement,” they said in a statement. “The statusquo prevails in this area. Any suggestion to the contrary is incorrect.”
As it turns out, they were wrong.[image: Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, right, poses withBhutan’s King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck, second left, Queen JetsunPema, left and their son prince Jigme Namgyel Wangchuck after receivingthem at the airport in New Delhi, India]
India has withdrawn its military from Doklam since it does not actuallyhave a claim on the region — their troops entered Doklam to support theirBhutanese allies and to oppose the sudden appearance of the Chinese.
However, India has built up their forces in Sikkim, the province thatborders both China and Bhutan. In other words, although tensions haveabated, both nations are boosting their military strength around theflashpoint of Doklam.