China, which is building numerous villages in Tibet close to its borders with India and Bhutan, has held several celebratory events to mark its takeover of Tibet in the new border villages with a mix of border troops and the local population, the official media in Beijing reported.
The move bears significance in view of the increased Chinese activities along the border and transgressions by China's People's Liberation Army (PLA).
A participant holds the Tiranga during Tawang's first-ever motorcycle expedition from Holy Tree to the Holy Waterfalls organised by the Indian Army in Tawang, August 23, 2022.
The Nyoma airfield, which will be one of the world's highest, will sharpen the IAF's capability along the northern border.
Zhang made the remarks in response to India's enhancement of its military readiness through the Sela Tunnel in Arunachal Pradesh, according to a report posted on the Chinese defence ministry's website on Friday.
India has been rejecting China renaming places in Arunachal Pradesh, asserting that the state is an integral part of the country and assigning "invented" names does not alter this reality.
Voting was underway on Friday in 102 Lok Sabha seats spread across 21 states and Union territories in the first of the seven phases of the world's largest electoral exercise, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging voters to exercise their franchise in record numbers.
There is no point to return to China. I prefer India, best place and Kangra, Pandit Nehru choice.
The former Army Chief said India's relations with China will always remain "somewhat tense".
The official names of the 11 places were released on Sunday by the ministry, which also gave precise coordinates, including two land areas, two residential areas, five mountain peaks and two rivers and listed the category of places' names and their subordinate administrative districts, state-run Global Times reported on Monday.
The Chinese Army troops try to enter these areas every year and try to patrol out their claim line which India does not allow.
It is on the exact spot where the Guru is said to have created 108 waterfalls, that the Yangtse clash took place between the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA on the night of December 9, 2022. As it had done in Ladakh in May 2020, the PLA tried to change the unmarked LAC in the Yangtse sector in Arunachal Pradesh. It was the most serious border incident since the Galwan Valley clash in June 2020, notes Claude Arpi.
The United States' Department of Defence said that it continues to closely watch developments along the Line of Actual Control at the India-China border and noted that China 'continues to amass forces and build military infrastructure along the so-called LAC'.
His attack on the government came days after Indian Army personnel clashed with Chinese soldiers in the Tawang sector in Arunachal Pradesh.
Chief of Army Staff Gen Manoj Pande has carried out a comprehensive review of India's military preparedness along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Arunachal Pradesh in his first visit to the border state after last month's clash between Indian and Chinese forces in the Tawang sector.
'It is a breathtaking journey towards the Tibet border, especially since the Border Road Organisation has accomplished a fabulous feat in black-topping the road till the border.' 'One is left with a salute for the dauntless Indian soldiers who spend the winter in these majestic, though inhospitable areas (we were told that the temperature comes down to minus 40 in winter),' recounts Claude Arpi.
After the Chinese People's Liberation Army troop buildup at the Line of Actual Control, the border separating India and China, the Indian Army has beefed up the 1,300 km-long LAC in the eastern sector in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh.
At a media briefing in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the two sides have maintained smooth communication on border-related issues through diplomatic and military channels.
The resolution condemns additional Chinese provocations, including China's use of military force to change the status quo along the Line of Actual Control, construction of villages in contested areas, publication of maps with Mandarin-language names for cities and features in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, and expansion of Beijing's territorial claims in Bhutan.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh virtually conducted the final breakthrough blast of the Sela tunnel in Arunachal Pradesh and flagged of a 20,000-km-long motorcycle expedition of the BRO on Thursday.
Lt Gen Kalita also stated that the Army is constantly monitoring the activities across the border and is well prepared to meet any emerging challenges.
This meeting is taking place after a gap of around four months.
The Indian Army bravely prevented the Chinese PLA's attempts to unilaterally change the status in the Yangtse area of Arunachal Pradesh's Tawang sector on December 9 and confronted it with firmness, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Tuesday.
Tawang is very much a part of India, and if the present Dalai Lama decides one day to take rebirth in Tawang, the Indian government will openly welcome him and support him, notes Claude Arpi.
The Indian Air Force will carry out a mega exercise covering the Northeastern region early next month to check its combat readiness, amid a fresh spike in tension with China along the Line of Actual Control in Arunachal Pradesh.
'Our brave Indian soldiers don't reply to raining of bricks with mere sticks, they do so with iron rods'
The DG said that the previous government was wary of constructing roads near the Line of Actual Control.
'The PLA is under constant watch.' 'There is an escalation matrix. For every degree of escalation, responses are thought of and trained for.'
'My understanding is that by the time President Xi Jinping came for the Chennai summit [2019], he had already instructed his army to undertake the action in Galwan in the summer of 2020.'
In the two years since the PLA's intrusions into Eastern Ladakh, the Border Roads Organisation is sparing no effort to build and upgrade road highways from Tezpur to the McMahon Line.
'The real issue between India and China is that the Chinese have transgressed along the Line of Actual Control at multiple points.'
Speaking at the Tughlaq's 53rd Annual Day Function in Chennai, the External Affairs minister said, "On the Northern borders, China is seeking to change the status quo by bringing large forces, violating our agreements. Despite Covid, remember, this happened in May 2020. Our counter-response was strong and firm."
Two pilots on board a Cheetah helicopter of the Army were killed when it crashed near Mandala in West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh on Thursday morning, a defence spokesperson said.
The defence minister also took an indirect dig at Gandhi for "doubting" the government's intention in the handling of the border row with China and said politics can not be done on the basis of "falsehood".
The US provided crucial intelligence to the Indian military last year that helped it successfully tackle the Chinese "incursions".
The batch of five experts will also play a role as interpreters between India and China sides during border personnel meetings, sources said.
"The current border situation is overall stable," the Chinese diplomat said.
The envoy's "Tawang visit highlights resolute US support for Indian sovereignty and commitment to local partnerships", Alice G Wells, Acting Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of South and Central Asia, said in a tweet on Wednesday.
General Naravane said that the Chinese army has been trying to alter the status quo along the LAC in very 'small incremental steps' and over a period of time Beijing has gained a lot.
'Unless India ups the ante, Beijing will continue to believe its transgressions are cost free and will feel encouraged to do more of the same.'
