China has built highways inside India-claimed Ladakh, says report
New Delhi, December 15 (KMS): In the area that India claims belongs to India in eastern Ladakh, the Chinese army is building highways and roads along with additional settlements for its troops, reports said quoting sources in the Indian army.
The development has deepened apprehensions among Indian military veterans and security experts that China may be planning to hold on to the territory it has occupied and declare a new status quo on the Line of Actual Control, Indian newspaper The Telegraph reported.
Quoting an official from the Home Ministry of India, the report said, “Intelligence reports suggest that the Chinese army is ramping up its military positions by building additional highways and roads in eastern Ladakh. It has also built new habitats for its troops inside India-claimed lines”.
The Indian and Chinese armies have been locked in border standoffs at multiple points in Ladakh since May last year.
China has so far shown no intention of disengaging from the territory in Hot Springs and the Depsang Plains, while agreeing to “partial” disengagement on its own terms from the Galwan Valley, Pangong Lake, and Gogra.
In these three places, both armies have retreated by an equal distance, with the Chinese still entrenched within India-claimed lines and the Indians stepping back within their own territory – triggering charges of “ceding further land” to China, the report said.
