(TibetanReview.net, May16, 2016) – Apart from readying its Tibet Military Command (TMC) for combat, China has been bolstering its forces along its border with India and its nuclear capabilities, reported asianage.com May 15, citing US deputy assistant secretary of defence for East Asia, Abraham M Denmark.
Briefing reporters after the submission of a Pentagon report on May 13, Denmark has said: “We have noticed an increase in capability and force posture by the Chinese military in areas close to the border with India.”
The Pentagon report was cited as saying India’s nuclear force was an additional driver behind China’s nuclear force modernisation. “Through the use of improved communications links, ICBM units now have better access to battlefield information and uninterrupted communications, connecting all command echelons. Unit commanders are able to issue orders to multiple subordinates at once, instead of serially, via voice commands”.
Referring to the Sep 2015 border skirmish between the two Asian giants in Northern Ladakh, the report was quoted as saying: “Tensions remain with India along their shared 4,057 km border over Arunachal Pradesh (which China asserts is part of Tibet and therefore of China), and over the Aksai Chin region at the western end of the Tibetan Plateau, despite increases in China-India political and economic relations”.
A front-page report in the Chinese government-run English daily Global Times on May 13 said China had elevated the political rank of its TMC to one level higher than its counterpart provincial level military command and had been placed under the direct leadership of the PLA as a preparation for some future combat.
And the paper quoted Mr Song Zhongping, a Beijing-based military expert, as saying: “The TMC bears great responsibility to prepare for possible conflicts between China and India, and currently it is difficult to secure all the military resources they need.”
The asianage.com report quoted an authoritative source in India’s military establishment as saying on condition of anonymity: “Till date TMC was not an operational command. It was to mainly help in force mobilsation and logistical support. With this move, China has established the military importance of TMC. We will have to see by how much the Chinese force increases in the region”.