NEW DELHI: At a time when India and China are locked in a tense border stand-off, the Ministry of External Affairs and the country’s senior most uniformed officer on Thursday made contradictory statements on Chinese construction activity along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
The foreign office said it has neither accepted such illegal occupation of its territory nor has it accepted the unjustified Chinese claims. Later, speaking at a media conclave, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat said a Pentagon report on Chinese construction in Indian territory and building of a new village is not true.
MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said India has taken note of the US Department of Defense’s report and always conveyed its strong protest to such activities through diplomatic means. The US report said China built a large 100-home civilian village inside the disputed territory between Tibet Autonomous Region and Arunachal Pradesh.
Bagchi added that the “government keeps a constant watch on all developments having a bearing on India’s security and takes all measures to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Bagchi said India too stepped up infrastructure development including the construction of roads and bridges in areas along the border with China.
Bagchi said reports had also appeared in the media earlier this year on this issue.
"As we had stated then, China has undertaken construction activities in the past several years along the border areas including in the areas that it has illegally occupied over the decades," he said.
"India has neither accepted such illegal occupation of our territory nor has it accepted the unjustified Chinese claims," Bagchi said.
The spokesperson said India has always conveyed its strong protest to such activities through diplomatic means and will continue to do so in the future.
"Further, as conveyed earlier the government has also stepped up border infrastructure including the construction of roads, bridges etc, which has provided much-needed connectivity to the local population along the border," he said.
Bagchi said the government remained committed to the objective of creating infrastructure along the border areas for the improvement of the livelihood of its citizens including in Arunachal Pradesh.
"The government keeps a constant watch on all developments having a bearing on India's security and takes all the necessary measures to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity," he said.
In its recent report, the US Department of Defence said China built a large 100-home civilian village inside disputed territory between its Tibet Autonomous Region and India's Arunachal Pradesh in the eastern sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
Sources in the security establishment on Tuesday said the village along the disputed border in the upper Subansiri district is in an area that was occupied by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) after overrunning an Assam Rifles post in 1959.
Following the eastern Ladakh standoff last year, India has bolstered its overall military preparedness along the LAC in the Arunachal Pradesh sector as well.
Eastern Army Commander Lt Gen Manoj Pande said last month that China has increased the intensity of its military exercises and deployment of troops in its depth areas opposite the LAC in the Arunachal Pradesh sector.
He said that India has correspondingly readied contingency plans to deal with any eventualities.
Lt Gen Pande had said new villages have come up on the Chinese side of the border in certain areas and India has taken note of it in its operational strategy.
However, General Rawat had a different take.
“Chinese are building villages, possibly for billeting and locating their civilians or for the military in the future all along the LAC, particularly after the recent face-offs. But this present controversy that has erupted that Chinese have come across into our territory and built a new village is not true,” he said.
“It is just that their old infrastructure is being redeveloped along the LAC on their side. I would not call it muscle flexing. We are noticing permanent structures on the Chinese side, so if we have to be permanently there, so be it,” the CDS said.
Gen Rawat affirmed that India is well prepared for any misadventure, and are stocked up for a long winter.
Assuring the nation, he said, “Should the Chinese carry out a Galwan again, they will get the same response. Troops from both sides are closer... but there is nothing to be worried about right now.”
He also asserted that China has not transgressed the Indian "perception" of the LAC.
Rawat, at 'Times Now Summit 2021', said, "as far as we are concerned, no such village development has taken place on our side of the LAC.
" "The present controversy - that has erupted - that the Chinese have come across into our territory and built a new village is not true," he said.
"But what I wish to come out with is that Chinese are building villages possibly for billeting and locating their civilians or for their military in the future all along the LAC, particularly after the recent face-offs that we have had," the CDS added.
Rawat also said both the Indian and Chinese forces have posts on their respective side of the LAC.
"Wherever the Chinese have now developed their posts, we have seen some old dilapidated huts that existed in that area," he said.
So, some of those huts have been broken and newer infrastructure was being built up and modern huts are coming up, he added.
"Yes, maybe a couple of them, the villages, have increased in size. What I would probably feel is that these are to billet the Chinese soldiers and subsequently, they may also be planning to facilitate the arrival of their families once in a while. Our civilians going there, our families visiting forward areas, so they are watching all this," he explained.
Noting that Chinese soldiers are isolated, Rawat said, "he (Chinese soldier) is living thousands of miles away from the mainland. And he sees our people that they are in a much happier state. They get to go home much faster."
The Indian soldiers do get leave to go home from the positions on LAC at least twice a year if not thrice, he said, adding that the Chinese soldiers do not have this luxury.
"They are building this infrastructure, this kind of so-called villages, which are well within their side of the LAC. They have not transgressed anywhere on our perception of the LAC," he said.
He said there are different perceptions of the LAC but the Indian armed forces know where the LAC lies because they have been told that this is your alignment of the LAC and this is the territory you are expected to defend.
"Chinese have a perception and in some areas, we know about it, and in some areas, we don't know about it. Because they have never really explained where the LAC lies according to their perception," he noted.
When asked if he thinks such village development is muscle-flexing on their part, he replied: "Certainly not, I won't call it muscle-flexing. With the development of these villages, they are trying to make sure that they reach out to their border areas, and it is something we should also be doing."
India was also concerned about its border area development and the government has released funds for BADP (Border Area Development Programme) projects, he mentioned.
"In fact, we are encouraging people to go there and stay back in those villages because a large number of villages along the LAC are being vacated. Why are they being vacated? Because people find job opportunities, education, health infrastructure, more in the inner areas," he explained.
Last month, India and China failed to make any headway in resolving the 18-month standoff in the remaining friction points in eastern Ladakh during the 13th round of military talks between the two countries.
Each side currently has around 50,000 to 60,000 troops along the LAC in the sensitive sector of eastern Ladakh.
(With PTI Inputs)