Brahma Chellaney
LEH, India -- China and India are engaged in an infrastructure war along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh where a brutal hand-to-hand clash in the Galwan Valley in June last year left 20 Indians dead while China refused to disclose its casualties.
In the area of Ladakh, Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh, China is thought to have built at least 10 new air bases.
India has responded by constructing 73 "operationally significant" pieces of infrastructure -- roads, bridges and tunnels -- along its tense border with China. New Delhi's expected budget to increase connectivity in the region is 1.4 trillion Indian rupees ($18.8 billion).
A strategic, all-weather road has been built to facilitate Indian troop and artillery deployment. Along its route is the 14.5 km Zoji La that cost 46 billion rupees and was built by Megha Engineering and Infrastructure.
Some Indian media have claimed it to be one of Asia's longest two-way tunnels. It certainly surpasses the nearly 11 km Chenani-Nashri tunnel in Jammu and Kashmir. With a height of 9.5 meters and breadth of 7.57 meters, the tunnel shortens the journey from Baltal to Minamarg by 27 km to just 13 km by cutting straight through the mountainous terrain.
Work is still in progress on the 6.5 km Z-Morh tunnel connecting Gagangeer and Sonamarg, a hill station some 80 km northeast of Srinagar, the capital. It is being built by Apco Infratech at a cost of 23 billion rupees. An 18.4 km road connection between the two strategic tunnels is also under construction. It requires 11 bridges and snow galleries along the route.
The Bharatiya Janata Party government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is generally keen to build infrastructure ahead of the 2024 general election, particularly in this part of the country where security issues have added urgency.
The Ladakh Administration and the Border Roads Organization (BRO) signed a memorandum of understanding on Sept. 3 to increase connectivity in the hilly region. The five projects included green field preparation, double-lane road upgrades and tunnel construction.
A new 26.6 km road will connect roads between Hanuthang and Handanbroke in the Indus Valley and Zungpaland and Turtuk in the Shyok Valley through the Stakpuchan Range. This will cut traveling time between Leh and Turtuk from nine hours to just three and a half, and also cut out the dangerous Khardungla Pass.
A telecommunications tower stands at Khardung La, beside the road to the Galwan Valley on Oct. 5. (Photo by Bilal Hussain)
Four key single-lane roads are being upgraded. A new tunnel at Hamboting La will facilitate smooth journeys from Kargil to Batalik. The road from Khalse to Shyokvia Agham will be 70 km, and another from Tangtse to Lukung will be 31 km. The Aryan villages of Dah, Garkone Darchik and Hundar in the Nubra Valley will all become accessible through this new network.
BRO has built the world's highest blacktop road at 5,883 meters in Eastern Ladakh, stretching 52 km through the Umling La Pass. It breaks the old Bolivian record of 5,777 meters.
The BRO is a road engineering component of the Indian Armed Forces and employs over 50,000 laborers. One of them, Mahinder, hails from the state of Jharkhand in eastern India, and this is his first time in Ladakh. He is paid 22,000 rupees ($293) monthly with about 10% deducted for food.
The Ladakh environment is exceptionally hostile. In extreme weather, construction work slows or stops. In winter, temperatures fall below minus 40 C, and oxygen levels are 50% lower than in the river valleys. "It is getting so cold here now that we will go home by the end of October," Vinay, a construction supervisor, told Nikkei Asia. "We are over 30,000 from Jharkhand and not used to working in sub-zero temperatures."
Warmly dressed construction workers hired by the Indian army aboard a truck in the thin, cold air of Leh, India on Oct. 5. (Photo by Bilal Hussain)India is also building air bases in eastern Ladakh at Daulat Beg Oldi, Fukche and Nyoma. Indian Air Force fighters there will include French Rafale and Russian MiG-29s. Dassault Aviation is due to deliver 36 Rafale jets ahead of schedule, according to Emmanuel Lenain, the French ambassador. The purchase was signed in September 2016 and worth around 580 billion rupees. The first five aircraft were delivered in July.
Tensions along the border ramped up after India decided in 2019 to revoke the semiautonomous status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, and bifurcate it into two union territories: Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir.
Since a border war in 1962, China and India have traded accusations of territorial infractions across their unofficial boundary, which is known as the Line of Actual Control. The two governments have had an agreement in place since 1996 that prohibits the use of guns and explosives.
Sajjad Kargili, a political activist from Kargil, told Nikkei that the government's move snatched much from Ladakh. "There are no jobs, no land security, no people's representation," he said. "All we see are some superficial and cosmetic changes. We were against the steps taken on 5 August 2019, and we have approached the Supreme Court of India for restitution."
After the clashes last year in Ladakh, both India and China rushed troops and supplies up to the LAC. According to local reports, each side has up to 60,000 troops in the vicinity. It was the most tense period since a 73-day standoff at Doklam, Bhutan, in 2017. India at that time was deeply suspicious of Chinese interest in Doklam, which provided a commanding view and easy access to both the Chumbi Valley and the Siliguri Corridor.
The Thiskte monarchy gate stands over the road to Thoise air base on Oct. 5. (Photo by Bilal Hussain)Apart from boundary disputes such as Doklam, tensions between the two largest nations in Asia have heightened with China's support for Pakistan over Kashmir. Recently, there have even been reports of Pakistani officers being stationed with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) at its western and southern commands. The western command has been reported to oversee Xinjiang and the Tibet Autonomous Region.
Pravin Sawhney, a former army officer, defense expert and author, told Nikkei that Ladakh's missing infrastructure is being upgraded for security reasons: "Basic preparedness at an altitude of 3,000 to 5,500 meters above sea level."
Gen. Manoj Mukund Naravane, India's army chief, has confirmed that the PLA is being closely monitored, and that India's buildup is a response to Chinese activity. India has reported incursions, including as much as 18 km at the Indian-claimed Depsang Plains.
According to Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia program at the Wilson Center, a Washington-based research group, India's approach to border infrastructure resembles its broader approach to China -- try to keep up or catch up.
"It's much easier said than done," Kugelman told Nikkei. "India has made some recent progress with roads and tunnels, but it's also suffered setbacks in terms of new border posts that haven't met quality and livability standards. That said, given the dynamics of India-China relations, Beijing won't relent, and its infrastructure projects will continue. And New Delhi can't afford to relent on the pacing of its own projects."
A bridge under construction at Sarbal, Sonmarg, on the Sindh River on Oct. 3 (Photo by Bilal Hussain)
To track Indian deployments, the PLA has set up new camps with watchtowers and surveillance equipment inside India's claimed boundaries in Ladakh.
Sawhney said this has all been going on for 14 months. "Through incursions like the recent one in Arunachal, the PLA is observing the war footing -- the technology being used and the reaction time of the Indian side," he said.
Despite the military standoff in eastern Ladakh, trade between China and India is on course to exceed a record $100 billion this year. According to data recorded by Chinese customs, bilateral commerce had already hit $90.37 billion by September -- almost 50% up year on year.
Many in the Indian military see a very real possibility of conflict on two fronts simultaneously with China and Pakistan. Sawhney sees it more as a matter of well-established interoperability between China and Pakistan that could lead to a "one front reinforced war."
Indian soldiers are seen atop a vehicle on a highway leading to Ladakh, at Gagangeer, in Kashmir's Ganderbal District, in September 2020. © ReutersSawhney believes China no longer regards this as simply border friction. "The Chinese side has made this an issue of sovereignty, and started reclaiming all areas it considers belongs to it," he said. "The 13th round of talks between Chinese and Indian ground commanders remained inconclusive."
Lt. Gen. PGK Menon, the officer in charge on the Indian side, said India had "stuck to its position," and that China disrupted the status quo last year when it broke several boundary accords with India. He said China's affirmation that it will "protect national sovereignty" is a clear indication of its intention to remain in Ladakh.
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