Srinagar- Barely two days after China released its official “standard map,” including state of Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin region as part of its territory, satellite images have shown that Beijing is building tunnels and reinforced bunkers for soldiers and weaponry in the contested Aksai Chin region claimed by India as part of Ladakh, reports said Wednesday.
According to a report by Hindustan Times, the tunnels and bunkers are coming up in the area which is about 70km from the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The constructions seem to have started post 2021.
Giving reference to the satellite images by Maxar Technologies, the report said that personnel bunkers seem to be designed to protect soldiers from aerial attacks. Earth-moving machinery, new roads and multiple entrances for the tunnels are also visible in the images at six locations within an area of roughly 15 sq km in Aksai Chin.
“Analysts believe the underground facilities are meant to protect sensitive equipment, ammunition and command posts from air or missile strikes during potential hostilities,” the report added.
The reports of ramping up construction activity along the disputed area comes at a time when India registered strong protest against China’s 2023 edition of its “standard map” that claimed Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai China as its territory.
The “map” also showed the entire South China Sea as part of China as it featured in the previous editions of the ‘map’.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar rejected China’s “standard map” on Tuesday, stating that Beijing had even put out such maps in the past claiming territories that are not theirs and that it is “an old habit” of China.
“China has even in the past put out maps which claimed the territories which are not China’s, which belong to other countries. This is an old habit of theirs,” Jaishankar said. He made the comments while replying to a question on the ‘map’ at an event hosted by the NDTV.
“It is not something which is new. It started in the 1950s. So just by putting out a map claiming territories some of which are part of India.. I think this doesn’t change (anything). These are very much part of India,” he said.
“We are very clear what our territories are. This government is very clear about what we need to do to defend our territory. You can see that on our borders. I think there should be no doubt about that,” Jaishankar said.
“Just making absurd claims does not make other people’s territories yours. Let’s be very clear on that,” he added.
The ties between India and China came under severe strain following the eastern Ladakh border row that began in May 2020. The Indian and Chinese troops are locked in an over three-year confrontation in certain friction points in eastern Ladakh even as the two sides completed disengagement from several areas following extensive diplomatic and military talks.
India has been consistently maintaining that peace and tranquillity along the LAC were key for the normalisation of overall ties.
China Defends New Map
Meanwhile Beijing on Wednesday defended its move to release a new “standard map” for 2023 showing Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin as part of its territory, saying that it is a “routine practice” in accordance with its law and urged India to “stay objective and calm” and refrain from “over-interpreting” the issue.
India had lodged a strong protest with China over its so-called “standard map” laying claim over Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin, and asserted that such steps only complicate the resolution of the boundary question.
Asked for his reaction to India’s diplomatic protest by a Chinese state-run outlet, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a media briefing in Beijing on Wednesday that “on August 23, the Ministry of National Resources of China released the 2023 edition of the standard map”.
“It is a routine practice in China’s exercise of sovereignty in accordance with the law. We hope relevant sides can stay objective and calm, and refrain from over-interpreting the issue,” Wang said.
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