Chinese military complete highway for troop movements to India
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – A new highway now links Metok County, in southern Tibet, to the rest of China. Although of limited economic significance since it has a small population of some 11,000 people, the area is crucial from a military standpoint because it bolsters Chinese claims to the wider region, currently disputed with India.
The People’s Liberation Army did most of the work. On Wednesday, its construction crews broke through the last obstacle in the 3.3-kilometre Galongla Tunnel at 3,750 metres above sea level, thus completing the 117-kilometre Metok highway.
At present, the “PLA's fighting capability in southern Tibet is very weak because we failed to overcome countless fatal natural barriers there over the past near five decades," Shanghai-based military expert Ni Lexiong told the South China Morning Post.
Metok County borders Arunachal Pradesh, an area of some 90,000 km2 under Indian control. For Li, China lost this territory in the 1962 war because it could not hold the area. Since then, India has built up its military and civilian infrastructure, with up to 450,000 people moving into the state and nearly 60,000 military personnel stationed there.
On the Chinese side, mountain roads are impassable for nine months of the year, thus troops get by with cured meat and canned food. Fresh vegetables are a luxury, military sources said.
Thanks to the new road, the PLA can mobilise thousands of soldiers to Metok if need be, since it can take up to 2,000 vehicles a day.
"We don't want to provoke any military conflicts with India, as we know the US, Japan and South Korea all want to draw India to their side to contain China," said Sun Shihai , a Sino-Indian affairs expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "We also trust that India doesn't want to ruin its ties with China either, as it needs to focus on economic development."
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