Fresh satellite images apparently show China to have built a second new village along the disputed border in Arunachal Pradesh, though the Indian Army stressed the “location was north of the Line of Actual Control (LAC)” in Chinese held territory.
The new enclave of 60 buildings in the Shi Yomi district, which did not exist in 2019, has come up “six km inside” the territory claimed by India “in the region between the LAC and the International Boundary” shown on Indian maps, as per reports. The Army, however, said the “location in question lies north of the LAC as per the coordinates. An officer, in turn, added that “there has been no such construction within our perception of the LAC”.
The 3,488-km LAC, stretching from eastern Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh, is the demarcation that separates the Indian-controlled territory from the Chinese, though the two sides have “differing perceptions” of the line with Beijing refusing to “jointly clarify” it till now.
China, of course, continues with its salami-slicing tactics to nibble away territory of its neighbours like India and Bhutan. This is the second such newly-constructed Chinese village that has recently come to light on the disputed territory in Arunachal Pradesh.
The first was the 100-home village constructed on the banks of River Tsari Chu in the Upper Subansiri district last year, which lies 93 km west of the second enclave. The disputed area in the Upper Subansiri district has been under China’s “adverse occupation” since the Longju incident in 1959. China has been building as many as 628 ‘xiaokang’ model border defence villages to fortify the borders of the Tibetan Autonomous Region with India and Bhutan over the last few years. Though a lot of these “dual-use” villages lie on the Chinese side of the LAC, some are on disputed territory with India. “After the Doklam face-off in 2017, China DDhas also constructed some new villages on Bhutanese territory,” said an official.
Responding to the Chinese village constructed in the Upper Subansiri district, the external affairs ministry on November 11 said, “China has undertaken construction activities in the past several years along the border areas, including those that it has illegally occupied over the decades. India has neither accepted such illegal occupation of our territory nor has it accepted the unjustified Chinese claims.”
