China-India border dispute: defence chief says Beijing is New Delhi’s ‘biggest security threat’
- General Bipin Rawat said growing ‘suspicion’ is coming in the way of resolving the border row between the nuclear-armed neighbours
- He added India is ‘prepared for any misadventure along the Himalayan frontier and in the sea’
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Twenty Indians and at least four Chinese soldiers were killed in hand-to-hand combat in a clash along the poorly demarcated 3,488-kilometre border last June.
Since then, Beijing and New Delhi have been adding to infrastructure, troops and military hardware along the disputed Himalayan frontier, Rawat said. “India is prepared for any misadventure along the border and in the sea,” he added.
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India ramps up defences on Himalayan border after deadly clashes with China
His comments coincided with India’s foreign ministry’s criticism of new Chinese construction in areas that both sides claim. Rawat said the Chinese are building villages along the Line of Actual Control, as the disputed but de facto boundary between the two countries is known.
“The 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 that we’ve had,” Rawat said.
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India’s military establishment is concerned that the militant group’s return to power could help terror groups operating in the region, even though border defences have been fortified.
The Indian military, which so long operated in silos, is undergoing the biggest overhaul since its independence seven decades ago and is now being organised to operate like modern militaries of the US, Australia and China.