Indian government faces political heat as satellite images show China’s infrastructure push along border

Analysis of satellite images reveals extent of China’s ‘new military and transport infrastructure’

Prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government is facing heat from India’s opposition parties which are demanding a discussion on the border skirmish with China earlier this month.

On Wednesday, parliamentarians from several opposition parties, including the Trinamool Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, and Congress staged a walkout from the lower house after demanding a discussion on the border tensions with China.

On 9 December, more than 250 Indian and Chinese troops clashed in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang.

The soldiers fought with spiked clubs, monkey fists and stun guns in the Yangtse area and Chinese troops outnumbered their Indian counterparts by four to one.

On Tuesday, federal foreign minister S Jaishankar said an unprecedented number of Indian soldiers have been amassed at the border.

But the opposition has demanded a statement from Mr Modi and a discussion in the parliament’s ongoing winter session which has already seen days of disruption over the issue.

In a parliamentary meeting on Wednesday, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi said: “The government is being adamant and not holding a discussion on China’s transgressions. The public and the House aren’t aware of the real situation. Why is the government not sending out a financial reply to Chinese transgression?”

Members of several opposition parties also held a protest at the Gandhi statue inside the Parliament complex demanding a discussion on the issue.

The opposition’s protests have come amid a satellite imagery analysis of key areas that showed how Beijing has built up new military and transport infrastructure along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

The new study conducted by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), which analysed the images, said China has conducted rapid infrastructure development along the LAC that has allowed it access to locations on the Yangtse Plateau more easily than just a year ago.

“While India maintains control of the commanding position on the plateau’s high ground, China has compensated for this disadvantage by building new military and transport infrastructure that allows it to get troops quickly into the area,” the report said.

China has upgraded several key access roads and a sealed road has been constructed that leads from Tangwu New Village to within 150 metres of the LAC ridgeline, enhancing Beijing’s ability to send People’s Liberation Army troops directly to the LAC.

“There is also a small PLA camp at the end of this road,” it said.

“It was the construction of this new road that enabled Chinese troops to surge upwards to Indian positions during the 9 December skirmish.”

The ASPI study added that India’s defences on the Yangtse plateau consist of six frontline outposts along the LAC.

“The access roads leading from the larger Indian bases are extremely steep dirt tracks. Satellite imagery shows that these roads are already suffering from erosion and landslides due to their steep grade, environmental conditions and relatively poor construction,” it said.

On Monday, Indian news channel NDTV showed satellite images from Maxar that indicated large numbers of Chinese drones and fighter aircraft at major Tibetan airbases, which are ranged against India’s northeast.

Though the Indian government has not yet responded on these satellite images, on Wednesday, federal law minister Kiren Rijiju blamed the Congress for not working on infrastructure at the border.

He said that while in opposition in 2005, the BJP had raised the China border issue in parliament.

India’s former prime minister, Manmohan Singh, and former leader of the lower house, Pranab Mukherjee, had said that instead of discussing the issue in parliament, the country should deal with it internally owing to the sensitive nature of the issue, claimed Mr Rijiju.

“Congress is forgetting that and is raising a sensitive issue which isn’t good. It was Congress who didn’t work on infrastructure at border areas,” Mr Rijiju was quoted as saying by ANI.