Beijing has doubled airbases, military installations along LAC in last 3 years

China continues to rapidly ramp up its military prowess all along the border stretching from Arunachal Pradesh in the east to Ladakh in the west as talks are on to defuse the volatile situation at the Line of Actual Control.

The Chinese have doubled up their airbases and other military installations in the last three years thereby threatening India’s strategic interests.

China has already deployed more than 150 aircraft and helicopters close to the LAC in Ladakh where both the countries share a 1,700 km long border.  Satellite images and a  report by Stratfor, a global intelligence platform, about the massive build up has alarmed the Indian security establishment.

The rapid improvement in military infrastructure started right after the 73-day stand-off between India and China in Doklam, Sikkim in 2017.  Intervention at the highest political and diplomatic levels then defused the situation.

Since then, China has more than doubled its total number of airbases, air defence positions and heliports near the Indian border.  The Stratfor report gives details of China’s military-infrastructure build-up through a detailed analysis of satellite images of military facilities.

“The timing of the Chinese build-up of military facilities along the border with India just prior to the ongoing Ladakh standoff suggests these border tensions are part of a much larger effort by China to assert control over its border regions,” says Sim Tack, a senior global analyst with Stratfor and the author of the report.

Significantly, China’s upgrade of its military infrastructure is far from complete. “The expansion and construction of military infrastructure is in most cases still underway, so the Chinese military activity that we are seeing along the border with India today is only the beginning of a longer-term intent,” the report says.

The consequences of this for India, which has been involved in a violent face-off with China in eastern Ladakh since early May, seem clear. “Once finished, this infrastructure will provide support for an even greater intensity of Chinese operations.”

According to the report, China has “started constructing at least 13 entirely new military positions near its borders with India”. This includes three airbases, five permanent air defence positions and five heliports. “‘Construction on four of those new heliports started after the onset of the current Ladakh crisis in May,” it says.

 China’s military build-up along the Indian borders, the report says, is part of a bigger strategy similar to its goals in the South China Sea where Beijing has dredged land around tiny coral atolls to develop full-fledged air bases and naval facilities.

Many nations in that region have rejected Beijing’s claim that the area lies within its jurisdiction. In May this year, India, which champions the freedom of navigation in international waterways along with the United States said, ‘’The South China Sea is a part of the global commons and India has an abiding interest in peace and stability in the region,’’ remarks likely to irk Beijing which is wary of India’s close strategic partnership with Washington.

Practising the same strategy along its land frontier with India, ‘’China aims to discourage Indian resistance or military action during future border disputes by ostentatiously demonstrating its ability and intent to engage in military confrontations.’’

China is focusing on improving its air power and ‘’the Chinese military is currently building four similar air defence positions within existing air bases and other facilities. This includes additional runways, as well as aircraft shelters that will help obscure the true presence of combat aircraft at these bases from observation.’’