China builds ropeway, roads near tri-junction

Beijing has been improving infrastructure and arranging additional deployments along the eastern sector of LAC; officials say there is lot of activity near Doklam that saw face-off in 2017

China has set up a ropeway near the Torsa Nala on its side of the India-Bhutan-China tri-junction, and is strengthening roads and other infrastructure along the entire eastern sector, according to defence sources.

In the Yangtse area of Tawang sector in Arunachal Pradesh, which saw a scuffle last week, defence officials with knowledge of the area said China had stepped up patrols some years ago to assert its claims in the area, after finding that their grazers could not move in and out. “What irks the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is that the Indian Army holds the dominating heights which give a complete view of the bowl,” noted two of the sources.

Yangtse ingress points

The Chinese usually patrol two to three times a year, before and after winter, one of the sources said, adding that there are four major ingress points in the Yangtse area which the PLA uses to enter the region. Yangtse is located 30-35 km northeast of Tawang and is at an altitude of around 17,000 feet.

The PLA has installed a ropeway close to the Torsa Nala on their side near the confluence point, and some new anchor points of the ropeway have been recently observed, said one of the sources cited above.

Officials said that there is also a lot of activity near the Torsa Nala near Doklam, a location that saw a 73-day standoff between Indian and Chinese forces in 2017.