(TibetanReview.net, Feb15’24) –Chinese nationals have started occupying the double-storeyed spacious buildings in some of the model “Xiaokang” border defence villages that had come up in occupied Tibet across India’s north-eastern borders along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) since 2019, reported the indianexpress.com Feb 15. While the existence of such new villages so-close to the border is itself a matter of concern to India, it is unclear whether the new residents are civilian or military, the report said.
The report cited senior Indian officials familiar with the matter as saying the Chinese had started occupying a couple of these village buildings in the new villages on the Tibetan side of the LAC across from Lohit Valley and the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh over the last few months.
The report noted that China has been constructing 628 such “well-off villages” along India’s borders with occupied Tibet, which China now calls “Xizang” to make clear the once independent Tibet no longer exists, including along Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh for over five years now.
While the exact nature of these villages is unclear, the dwellings are understood to be “dual-use infrastructure” — for both civil and military purposes — and seen as a Chinese assertion of its territorial claims along the LAC. They have thus remained a concern for the Indian military, the report said.
It said that in the last few months, the hitherto unoccupied double-storeyed, large and spacious buildings constructed as part of these villages, had begun to by occupied by Chinese nationals over the last few months, and it was not clear whether these were civilian or military personnel.
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The report cited sources as also saying the Chinese were building infrastructure all along the LAC bordering the northeast, even as the LAC remained far off from most inhabited areas or areas of importance except for Tawang and the Siliguri Corridor.
“They (the Chinese) have built sufficient infrastructure along the LAC at Tawang, but they are not stopping at that. Even in other areas such as Siang valley of Arunachal Pradesh, we have been seeing rapid development of Chinese infrastructure,” one official has said.
The official has added that the Chinese have consistently improved their existing infrastructure including improving their connectivity through passes, constructing roads and bridges and their model villages. China has also been seen constructing infrastructure, including border villages, in Bhutanese territory.
India has decided to respond to these developments, including with Vibrant Villages programmes under which it plans to develop 663 border villages into modern villages with all amenities in the first phase. Of them, at least 17 such villages along the borders with occupied Tibet in Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, have been selected for development as a pilot project under the programme, the report noted.
In Arunachal Pradesh, villages in the eastern part of the state and in the Tawang region have been identified such as Zemithang, Taksing, Chayang Tajo, Tuting and Kibithu. Besides, three major highways are at different stages of construction: the Trans-Arunachal Highway; the Frontier Highway; and the East-West Industrial Corridor Highway. Besides, there are plans to improve connectivity to Tawang with the construction of at least two alternate axes — in addition to the existing one connecting Guwahati and Tawang.
Roads are being built on all sides of the state’s Dibang valley, which previously had roads just till a little ahead of Anini, the report noted.
“Work is underway to improve connectivity to the passes, establish laterals for inter-valley connectivity and on construction of helipads and advanced landing grounds at various locations in the state,” another official has said.