China settles three villages near Arunachal, relocates villagers, opens polls on satellite images

New Delhi, Sunday 6 December 2020

China has settled three villages about 5 km from Boom La Pass, near the triangular junction between India, China and Bhutan in western Arunachal Pradesh. There is an ongoing dispute between India and China over the border in the region and this new construction could be an important step towards strengthening China's territorial claims along the Arunachal Pradesh border.

"China is deploying Han Chinese and Tibetan members of the Communist Party near India's border to strengthen its border claims and increase border infiltration," said Brahma Chelani, who oversees China's activities. As China uses fishermen in the South China Sea. Chinese shepherds and fodder eaters are used by Indian patrols to infiltrate the Himalayan regions.

The new satellite image released in the report comes a week after images of Chinese villages inhabiting the Bhutanese region surfaced. It is about seven kilometers from the Doklama site where clashes broke out between Indian and Chinese forces in 2017.

The villages shown in this report are located in Chinese territory and are being built at a time when the armies of India and China are facing each other in eastern Ladakh. Since the 1962 war, both countries have been going through the worst phase of tensions. India and China have deployed a large number of troops on the border. Despite eight rounds of military talks, no concrete results have been achieved yet.

The images shown in this report have been obtained from Planet Labs. By February 17, 2020, only one village will appear in the area. It features more than 20 constructions (houses), considered to be Chalets (usually wooden houses built in hilly areas), easily recognizable by the red roof. The second photo is from November 28, showing three additional enclaves with at least 50 structures. Sources are aware of the presence of at least one enclave in the area. Each enclave is at a distance of one kilometer from the other enclave. All are connected by scattered tar and all weather resistant roads.

China challenges the legal status of the border in the region, and a map of China shows 65,000 square kilometers as part of China's Tibet region. India has been denying China's claim for decades and insists that the historic McMahon line, defined by British administrator Sir Henry McMahon in the Simla Agreement of 1914, defines the border here.