China has built a large village in a disputed area in Arunachal Pradesh and has been taking incremental action to press its claims on the Line of Actual Control, a report by the Pentagon to the US Congress has said.
Pentagon’s annual report on the Chinese military said that dialogue between India and China to resolve the border crisis has made limited progress, and firmly blamed the PLA for the series of confrontations that started in May 2020, resulting in the bloody clash at Galwan where 21 Indian soldiers were killed.
“Beginning in May 2020, PLA launched incursions into customarily Indian-controlled territory across the border and has concentrated troops at several standoff locations along LAC. In addition, a substantial reserve force from Tibet and Xinjiang military districts were deployed to the interior of western China to provide a rapid response,” the report said.
Noting that there have been ongoing diplomatic and military dialogues to reduce border tensions, the Pentagon said that the Chinese side continued “incremental and tactical actions to press its claims at the LAC,” despite this.
The report mentioned a new village established by the Chinese government in Arunachal Pradesh last year, in a disputed area along the Tsari river.
Indian officials have described such new settlements by the PLA along the border as ‘dual purpose’, with a likely military role as well.
“Sometime in 2020, the PRC built a large 100-home civilian village inside disputed territory between the PRC’s Tibet Autonomous Region and India’s Arunachal Pradesh state in the eastern sector of the LAC. These and other infrastructure development efforts along the India-China border have been a source of consternation in the Indian government and media,” the report said.
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