‘Doklam under complete surveillance, Chinese activity hasn’t crossed Red Lines’
Doklam plateau, the site of a 73-day-long face-off between Indian and Chinese armies last year, is being kept fully under surveillance by India. Official sources said that China had not undertaken any fresh road construction in the area in the past month, and its activity had not crossed any Indian Red Lines.
“The suggestion that China has built a fresh road to Jampheri ridge, without our knowledge, is completely misleading. The Chinese haven’t made anything new in the past month. We are keeping the full area under surveillance through visual and technical means,” official sources told The Indian Express.
According to sources, China has been constructing ‘laterals’ — tracks which run parallel to its border with Bhutan in Doklam — in the territory controlled by it. Construction of such tracks, sources added, in the area it controls has been undertaken by China even before the Doklam face-off and there is nothing new or unusual about it.
“Our Red Lines are very clear: Jampheri Ridge and Torsa nalla. We stopped the Chinese last summer when they tried to proceed south of Torsa nalla, from the parking area. None of their laterals constructed post-Doklam cross the Torsa nalla. In fact, they are still at least 1.6 km north of Torsa nalla and have not crossed the Amo Chu river to the east. They haven’t crossed any of our Red Lines,” sources said.
In June last year, Indian soldiers had walked down from their post at Doka La to stop the Chinese track construction party which was attempting to make a track to Jampheri ridge. Jampheri, which lies in Bhutan and has a post of Royal Bhutan Army, is considered strategically important by India, as Chinese deployment on the ridge line will make India vulnerable in the Siliguri corridor.
Meanwhile, there has been no change in the deployment of the Chinese battalion in Doklam. Nearly 250 soldiers of the battalion, which was based in Yatung, are now deployed in South Doklam.
