India dominates Tawang sector, China trying to neutralise Delhi’s advantage: Study

Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) study says China built new military, transport infra allowing quick access to its troops

Analysts at a top Australian strategic think tank have said India maintains a commanding position in the high Himalayas in Arunachal Pradesh’s Yangtse plateau along the Tawang sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

Satellite imagery accessed and analysed by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) said although India maintains a commanding position along the Tawang heights, the Chinese, in a bid to neutralise the Indian advantage, have built new military and transport infrastructure that allows its troops quick access into the area.

This perhaps is the reason why an estimated 300 PLA (People’s Liberation Army) troopers descended in the Yangtse area, close to an Indian post on December 8-9.

The Indian Army had of course, successfully pushed them away.

The ASPI study said, “The People’s Liberation Army can now access key locations on the Yangtse plateau more easily than it could have just one year ago”.

The study by the Australian institute was released on Tuesday, days after the Tawang face-off.

The study further says, China has upgraded several dart roads and constructed a sealed road leading from Tangwu village to within 150 km metres of the Ridge Line.

Analysts at the Institute feel that it was this new road that enabled Chinese troops to surge upwards to Indian positions during the December 9 face-off.

The Canberra-based think tank in its study also said that the Indian Armed forces too have restored many roads on the Indian side of the Yangtse plateau besides constructing new dart tracks.

The study further says that although India maintains a dominant position along the Ridge Line, its position is still vulnerable since access roads to some of the defence bases are vulnerable to erosion.

On the whole, the ASPI study says that the Chinese was strategically dis-advantaged in the area but was trying to tackle this by ensuring a durable transport infrastructure below the Indian positions.

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