India-China tensions: Expert on potential military clashes

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China is “preparing for war” with India, senior Indian opposition figure Rahul Gandhi in the light of the recent spike in animosity. Meanwhile, New Delhi is drawing a line in the sand with Beijing by unveiling plans for a 1,000-mile road along its border with China, days after troops from the world’s two most populous nations slugged it out in more brutal clashes. 

The two-lane “frontier highway”, stretching along the border throughout the disputed Arunachal Pradesh, a northeastern Indian state, will be completed by 2027, according to reports.

The revelation comes a day after Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, India’s defence minister, confirming he was deploying thousands of troops along the border after what he called an “encroachment” by PLA troops which he blamed for the skirmishes in Tawang earlier this month.

During the clashes, on December 9, 21 Chinese soldiers and nine from India were hurt, with senior Indian Army figures having claimed the PLA forces have regularly entered Indian territory in recent months.

The planned road will also stop nomadic Chinese herdsmen from crossing into Indian territory and building settlements.

PLA troops have been accused of using the herdsmen as a pretext to cross the border themselves.

Beijing has simultaneously been building infrastructure on its side of the border, known as the Line of Actual Control, including major roads, heliports and airstrips.

In a further illustration of escalating tensions, New Delhi also earlier this week tested its Agni-V nuclear-capable strategic missile, which has a range of more than 4,000 miles, off India’s eastern coast. 

China and India fought a brief war in 1962, and tensions have simmered ever since.

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Beijing continues to claim Arunachal Pradesh lies within its territory, arguing it had historically been part of South Tibet in China.

In June of last year, PLA troops killed a minimum of 20 Indian soldiers in during brutal hand-to-hand combat in the western Indian union territory of Ladakh, described at the time as “medieval” by Tobias Ellwood, chairman of Parliament’s defence committee.

India has roughly 200,000 troops stationed along the border.

Describing Indian troop numbers in the region as “unprecedented”, Mr Jaishankar yesterday said: “Today we have a deployment of the Indian army on the China border that we have never had.

“It is done in order to counter Chinese deployment, which has which has been scaled up massively since 2020.”

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Previously Mr Gandhi, leader of the opposition Congress party, accused President Narendra Modi’s government of being in denial about the risks involved, adding: “It is very clear that China is preparing for war.

“The government is trying to hide and ignore the obvious threat.”

By contrast, China has said little about recent events, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin saying on December 13: “As far as we understand, the China-India border situation is stable overall.”

The two sides “maintained unobstructed dialogue on the border issue through diplomatic and military channels”, Mr Wenbin said.

Beijing also called on New Delhi to “earnestly implement the important consensus reached by both leaders, strictly abide by the spirit of the agreements and accords signed by both sides, and together uphold the peace and tranquility of the China-India border region”.

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