PLA Enters Arunachal Yet Again

China uses hybrid warfare tactics to shock adversaries, which also signals future intentions. In 2013, People's Liberation Army (PLA) intruded 20-km inside Depsang in Eastern Ladakh; before the state visit of China’s then Prime Minister LI Keqiang to India in May that year. The joint statement talked of reviewing with satisfaction the comprehensive and rapid progress of India-China relations in the 21st Century. The Chinese intrusion was not discussed.

The PLA withdrew the intrusion after three weeks having forced India to dismantle surveillance equipment and structures at Chumar – 400 km south of the intrusion area. During the intrusion, The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) could not go to Patrolling Point (PP) 10, PP 11, PP 11A, PP 12 and PP13.

The PLA again intruded into Depsang in March 2015 but withdrew on being challenged. However, in 2020, PLA occupied the same location 20-km inside Depsang and remained in-situ since then.

External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on July 25, 2024 on sidelines of the ASEAN-relate Foreign Ministers meetings in Vientiane, Laos, where, according to India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), both ministers agreed to work with a purpose and urgency to achieve complete disengagement at the earliest.

On September 12, 2024, Jaishankar said in Geneva that about 75 percent of the “disengagement problems” with China are sorted out but the bigger issue has been the increasing militarization of the frontier. The same day, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval met Wang Yi at St. Petersburg.

Both reportedly agreed to deliver on the common understandings reached by the leaders of both countries, enhance mutual trust, create conditions for improving bilateral ties and maintain communication to that end.

On September 13, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in a media briefing on September 13, 2024 that Chinese and Indian militaries realised disengagement in four areas and the situation along the border is stable.

The above caused much excitement about Chinese pullback in Eastern Ladakh. However, there is no change in the ground situation after Indian and Chinese troops disengaged from PP-15 in the Gogra-Hot Springs area during September 2020. China has been indicating there will be no more PLA pull back.

According to news from Arunachal Pradesh in September 2024, troops of China’s PLA intruded some 60-lkm inside Indian territory in Anjaw District on September 6-7 and camped in the Kapapu area for about a week.

Photos of bonfires, spray-painted rocks and Chinese food materials found at the site shared on social media shows the recent intrusion. From Kapapu, Chaglagam, the nearest administrative circle in Anjaw District, is about 90-km from the McMahon Line.

China illegally claims Arunachal Pradesh, calling it Zanglang (South Tibet) and has repeatedly intruded into the region.

In December 2017, a porter from Bishing Village in Tuting area of Arunachal Pradesh discovered Chinese doing road construction 1.25 km across the LAC into Indian Territory in three feet of snow. The Line of Actual Control (LAC) is one day’s walk from Bishing Village.

According to the media, some 120 Army troops had to be rushed to the LAC, with rations that could last them for 30 days. With no roads to the border and no animal transport at disposal, the Army pressed into service a company of 300 porters to stock the troops.

To feed the troops before the porters arrived, the Army heli-dropped ready-to-eat meals. The Chinese excuse was that they strayed across “accidentally”. Eventually, the issue was resolved through a flag meeting on January 6, 2018 at the intrusion site and the Chinese went back.

In September 2019, Tapir Gao, BJP MP from Arunachal Pradesh, shared a video of PLA intrusion in Anjaw District of Arunachal Pradesh, where they had constructed a wooden bridge over Doimru Nala inside Indian Territory near Chaglagam - called ‘Fish Tail’ by the Army. Also, two Arunachal youth of Aanjaw District were missing for more than two years from an area near the LAC, with their families claiming they were in custody of the PLA.

On November 19, 2019, Tapir Gao told Parliament that China had occupied 50-60 km of India Territory and the area where former EAM Jaswant Singh was posted as a Captain was not with India any more. He warned if there will be a Doklam-like standoff with China, it will be in Arunachal Pradesh.

In November 2021, the mainstream media said that China had built a second village (cluster of some 60 buildings) in Shi Yomi district of Arunachal Pradesh (between March 2019 and February 2021) approximately six km within India. In August 2022, visuals on social media showed PLA soldiers overseeing infrastructure activities near Hadigra Lake, with three excavators working at the site.

On June 25, 2021, China inaugurated the 435.5-km Lhasa-Nyingchi rail line and began operating a bullet train connecting Lhasa with Nyingchi – covering the distance in three and a half hours, transporting 3,500 passengers daily on an average.

Nyingch, close to Arunachal Pradesh, has a PLA garrison and the airport is being upgraded since 2020 for use by the PLA Air Force (PLAAF). Having a bullet train, in addition to road and air transport, boosts China's options to rush forces to border areas.

Recent satellite imagery shows that China is building a new heliport near the 'Fishtail' sector in Arunachal Pradesh, which is just 20 km from the LAC. This facility will enhance China's military's ability to rapidly deploy troops to forward positions and improve operations in border areas.

The trend in India has generally been to ignore PLA intrusions and construction activity in Arunachal Pradesh, on the basis that the LAC is not designated and marked on the ground. But we must keep in mind that China always works on a plan. Mao Zhedong had said (and Deng Xiaoping had reiterated) that “Tibet is the palm of China and Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and NEFA (now Arunachal Pradesh) are its fingers”.

Lt General Prakash Katoch is an Indian Army veteran. Views expressed here are the writer’s own.