The Chinese intrusion, a stand-alone incident in Yangtse in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang sector, has baffled the nation. My understanding of Yangtse goes back to 1999-2000 when I was posted there. A major Chinese intrusion took place in the area during Operation Vijay. In those days, there was no structure or anything in Yangtse, though it was being patrolled. But during Operation Vijay, the Chinese sent some troops to pitch their tents in the area. At that time, it appeared that China’s aim was to tie us down in the Eastern sector and prevent the movement of troops from East to West.
We reacted swiftly and also pitched a few tents. It was a long nerve breaking standoff. Eventually, as Operation Vijay ended, the Chinese possibly felt the time had come for disengagement and eventually went back to Nagdoh. Yangtse has remained with us. We not only increased our strength in the area but also set up command and control for quick and timely response in case of any Chinese misadventure, besides increasing our fighting capability and capacity.
Yangtse is a highly dominating feature looking into the Nagdoh bowl. The bowl is the fulcrum of all Chinese deployment, opposite Tawang. It is a permanent location of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) battalion and border defence battalion. The Chinese are not very happy that Yangtse has been occupied by us. Just North of Nagdoh bowl is a place known as Tsona Zong, beyond which Kitchen Tso and Kitchen La are located. Tsona Zong is supposed to be the regimental headquarters of the PLA. A PLA regiment is something akin to a brigade of our army. Just South of Nagdoh bowl is the Bumla Pass, where border meetings with the Chinese are organised. So, the Chinese forces are in the North of Bumla Pass and in the South is India. Yangtse is in the East of Bumla with an excellent view of the Chinese-held Nagdoh bowl. That is why no PLA commander would like the area to be occupied by the Indian Army.
The Chinese, on numerous occasions, have tried to evict us from Yangtse. Thus, we have made sure that a senior officer with adequate troops is present in the area at all times. We have made sanger, stone walls, fences and other things, which the Chinese try to remove from time to time. To the west of Yangtse, the Mago Tsu flows. It was one of the routes followed by the Chinese in 1962.
My acquaintance with the Chinese was as early as 1990. I was one of the very few Indian Army officers who was qualified in digital satellite imagery interpretation. Today, satellite imagery is one of the major sources of tactical intelligence. But in those days, we used satellite imagery mostly for terrain intelligence, because of poor resolution. The best we had in those days was SPOT (from French “Satellite pour l’Observation de la Terre”), which gave us a 10-metre resolution in a monochromatic format. In panchromatic, it was 20-metre. So even in those days, as a young Major, I was interpreting the Chinese activities all over Arunachal, from Tatu camp, which is in the North-Eastern portion of Arunachal in the Debang Valley and the West side up to the Nagdoh bowl. That is how I began my acquaintance with Nagdoh and other Chinese-held areas opposite Arunachal.
Further, I went to Bhutan for three years. There too, the Chinese continued to draw my attention. Every year, they would set up camps called ‘Chinese Intrusion Camps’. These camps were occupied by the Chinese to claim an area, and initially, they would send some shepherds/cowherds, which we call ‘Goths’, consisting of about 100 to 200 animals, with maybe ten odd grazers. And this was followed by a platoon of Chinese troops. They stayed there during the campaigning season.
Yangtse’s importance lies in the fact that we can get a very good view of what is going on in the Nagdoh bowl. And, as mentioned above, it is the fulcrum of the Chinese activities in the area opposite Tawang. Now the question is — why do the Chinese come at this time of the year? The winter has started, the snow is already there and we are well-stocked. What would the Chinese do? What will they achieve except getting some major headlines? It’s like banging your head against a wall. And they are also aware that a colossal amount of force will be required to come down towards Tawang. The Nagdoh bowl has no deployment space for a very large force as it is a very small valley. That is why we don’t call it a valley, we call it a bowl.
Tactically, what are they going to achieve? For years, the Chinese have been trying to evict us from Yangtse as they are aware that the Indian Army is not going to let them succeed. If they had come somewhere near the Sumdrong area or a place where they are on high ground, we could’ve said that they aim to capture the territory. Here, in Yangtse, we are on high ground. They have to climb up.
I remember those days when the Chinese patrol would come to the base of the Yangtse feature in the evening and the next day, early morning, they would try to come to the area. But since we used to refrain, they would go back. Sometimes, there would be a physical contest as well. But this time, the number of Chinese appears to be much more. When we talk about the PLA battalion, we ought to remember that the battalion is smaller as they have got only three companies. On the other hand, our Army has four companies of an infantry battalion.
So, coming down to why the Chinese have come at this time of the year? We had an exercise with the US named ‘Yudh Abhyas’. The Chinese could be sending a tacit message to us on their disapproval of the exercise, as they are aware that India is now co-opted in the US strategy of countering the Chinese expansion. We ought to remember the cyberattack too, which was launched on AIIMS by the Chinese, coupled with the network interruption which we experienced at Mumbai airport a few days back. It will, thus, be naive on our part to think that this is only about territories. The Chinese detest the growing Indian strength and the ever-increasing stature of our prime minister. They are aware that our Opposition will clamour for the government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi when anything happens at the border. Considering the winter session of the Parliament, they possibly timed it in such a way, by making the Opposition believe that the Chinese are after our territory, disrupting the functioning of the government. I am afraid that they may not be looking just for territory, but also disrupting the functioning of our system and growth.
The author is a retired Lieutenant General of the Indian Army. Views expressed are personal.
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