How PLA bridge across Pangong Tso conafirms Pentagon concerns on China’s aggression

Days after a Pentagon record highlighted China’s competitive and coercive behaviour in opposition to its neighbours—specifically India—brand new satellite tv for pc pics have shed extra mild at the same. China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has constructed a double bridge throughout the Pangong Tso, connecting the northern financial institution of the lake with the southern financial institution for fast motion of reserves and fight energy on both aspect. The bridge is 10 metres extensive and approximately 450 metres lengthy and lets in for quicker motion of troops or even brief induction of armoured cars via way of means of the PLA. It offers clean get admission to from the PLA’s Moldo garrison to the Sirjab area, which can offer the Chinese aspect giant benefit. The bridge will reduce the space from Rudok—the PLA’s most important base servicing its deployments withinside the Pangong Tso area—to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) to approximately 50 km, from the present over 2 hundred km.

Military observers declare the bridge offers China operational benefit as they’ve accomplished a complementary method to guide both financial institution of the Pangong Tso, as a result neutralising the Indian navy’s tactical benefit. “With no habitation withinside the area, those are distinctive navy-use bridges. Infrastructure improvement in proximity is giving a clean message of [Chinese] intent,” says Lt Gen. Rakesh Sharma, former corps commander of the Indian Army’s Leh-primarily based totally 14 Corps. The Pangong Tso and its environment are a part of the area that had sparked the navy stand-off among India and China in May 2020. A month later, a violent conflict withinside the Galwan Valley—placed just a few kilometres from the Pangong lake—had claimed the lives of as a minimum 20 Indian squaddies and an unspecified quantity of PLA troopers. Both aspects have stationed lots of troops, artillery, tanks and different heavy weaponry withinside the area.

The Indian and Chinese navy have held sixteen rounds of corps commander-stage conferences to deescalate tensions withinside the aftermath of the fierce clashes in Pangong Tso and Galwan valley in 2020. The final spherical of talks became held in July this year, and due to the fact that then each aspects had been running in the direction of solving a date for the subsequent spherical of interactions. Indian and Chinese troops have, meanwhile, disengaged on the Gogra-Hotsprings at the LAC in jap Ladakh. However, the variations over Charding Nilung Nullah junction in Demchok and the Depsang Bulge (patrol factors nine to 13) are but to be resolved. PLA troops in Depsang are blocking off Indian patrol factors 10, 11, 11A, 12 and 13.

Last month, a Pentagon record had claimed that the continued navy stand-off among India and China in jap Ladakh had ended in a giant pressure build-up via way of means of the Chinese navy and established order or enforcement of ahead positions. The record, titled ‘Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 2021’, stated: “At the peak of the border stand-off among the PRC and India in 2020, the PLA hooked up a fibre optic community in faraway regions of the western Himalayas to offer quicker communications and multiplied safety from overseas interception.” This set-up, the record said, gave them get admission to to near-real-time ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) and situational information for streamlining decision-making tactics and shortening reaction timelines.