The Chinese People's Liberation Army has intensified patrolling in sensitive areas across the contested border in Arunachal Pradesh after a lingering standoff with India began last year in the Ladakh sector, and has ramped up area-domination patrols for surveillance and orientation of newly inducted troops with a noticeable increase in visits by senior PLA officers to forward areas to supervise military activities. .

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The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) has intensified patrolling in sensitive areas across the contested border in Arunachal Pradesh after a lingering standoff with India began last year in the Ladakh sector, and has ramped up area-domination patrols for surveillance and orientation of newly inducted troops with a noticeable increase in visits by senior PLA officers to forward areas to supervise military activities, data accessed by Hindustan Times shows.

The sectors across which the Indian Army has detected PLA's increased operational tempo include Lungro La, Zimithang and Bum La areas of high historical significance in the context of Chinese operations in the eastern sector and counter measures have been taken to boost India's readiness to handle any contingency, Hindustan Times quoted un-named officers monitoring Chinese activities in the North-East as saying.

An activity matrix prepared by the Indian army to summarize the latest developments in the Lungro La sector showed PLA carried out 90 patrols in the area from January 2020 to October 2021 (hereinafter referred to as 2020-21) compared to about 40 between January 2018 and December 2019 (hereinafter referred to as 2018-19). This more than doubling of PLA patrols has been attributed by the army to the "current operational situation".

Along with the increased Chinese patrolling and area-domination activities, the Indian army's surveillance network has picked up a corresponding jump in visits by senior PLA officers to the Lungro La area north of Tawang up from 10 visits in the two years before the Ladakh border row erupted to 40 in 2020-21 (till September), according to Hindustan Times.

In the Indian army's assessment, the increase in frequency of visits by top PLA officers is "due to the importance of the sector, current operational situation and familiarization visits", says an analysis in the activity matrix.

Granular details of PLA activities have become known to the Indian Army because of heightened surveillance along LAC and in Chinese depth areas using satellites, long-range unmanned aerial vehicles, high-tech intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) systems, superior network of radars and hi-tech night vision systems, Hindustan Times reported.

The Indian army took up forward positions in the Lungro La and Zimithang sectors in 1986-87 to dominate the Sumdorong Chu valley during a tense standoff with PLA there, according to HT.

PLA patrols in the Zimithang sector climbed from eight in 2018 and 2019 to 24 from January 2020 to September 2021; area-domination patrols rose from around 25 to 40, and visits by senior PLA officers went up from around 70 to 140, data from the second document shows.

Indian surveillance also picked up increased vehicular movement due to infrastructure-development activities and a large number of excavators and bulldozers to keep road axes open across the Lungro La, Zimithang and Bum La sectors, said another officer.

Air Vice Marshal Arjun Subramaniam

The Chinese actions across the three important sectors are part of a process to step up coercive posture against India, military historian and author Air Vice Marshal Arjun Subramaniam (retd) said.

"We are no longer wet behind the ears. We have the necessary wherewithal to adopt a counter-coercive posture against China. Robust joint operations, including extensive air operations by the Indian Air Force, have helped strengthen our posture significantly," Subramaniam said.

He said that China was shifting its focus from Ladakh to other areas along LAC, including Arunachal Pradesh, to keep India unsettled on multiple fronts.

Last week, Eastern Army commander Lieutenant General Manoj Pande said that China has ramped up the scale and duration of its military drills across LAC in Arunachal Pradesh, and the reserve formations mobilised by PLA are still deployed there. He said India deployed adequate forces in all sectors and the military is rehearsing and preparing for various contingencies that could arise.

"In certain areas where our deployment was thin, steps have been taken to strengthen it," Pande said, days after the 13th round of military talks between India and China to cool tensions in Ladakh reached an impasse on October 10, with PLA not agreeing to suggestions made by the Indian Army.

The military dialogue took place more than two months after the last round of talks that led to disengagement of forward deployed troops from Gogra, or Patrol Point-17A, which was one of the flashpoints on LAC in Ladakh.

The Asapila sector in Arunachal Pradesh is among the areas where the Indian Army observed infrastructure development by PLA close to LAC, and it had led to a corresponding increase in troop deployment there, Pande said on October 19.

"Eastern Command will have to remain prepared for all contingencies including additional deployment to strengthen the defensive posture. As long as disengagement and de-escalation remain stalled in Ladakh, the situation will remain tense," former Northern Army commander Lieutenant General DS Hooda (retd) said on October 19.

Why is Tawang Important?

Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh has traditionally remained a friction point between India and China, according to Amrita Nayak Dutta of News18. In the 1962 war, China had captured Tawang within the first few days. It had laid claim on Tawang as part of a larger Tibet, while claiming Arunachal Pradesh as southern Tibet.

The historical significance of Tawang stems from the fact that it is the birthplace of the sixth Dalai Lama and is an important seat in Tibetan Buddhism after Lhasa. Strategically, Tawang provides geographical access up to the Brahmaputra plains and provides the shortest axis to Tezpur in Assam.

A senior defense official told News18.com that the lines of communication from Tawang stretched to Guwahati and the extended Siliguri corridor, which makes Tawang important from the military point of view.

"The three major passes there Bomdilla, Nechiphu and Se La (connecting Tawang to the rest of Arunachal Pradesh) aid in deployment of defenses by India," the official said.

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Islamic Pakistan: Illusions & Reality;
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Islam & Muslims in the Post-9/11 America.
American Muslims in Politics.
Islam in the 21st Century: Challanges, conspiracies & Chaos
Muslim Word in the New Global Order
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