PLA Presence in Northern Areas ? ? ?

[GentlemanObserver]

Readers will recall Adm. Mullen's statement given in India on his last trip there, to the effect that US will back India in any confrontation with China - It seems the Indian will hold the American to his word.

Indeed sir, if they do that they are in for a rude awakening.

@ OT: Renegade, don't you have some toys to play with?

 

[SekrutYakhni]

Readers will recall Adm. Mullen's statement given in India on his last trip there, to the effect that US will back India in any confrontation with China - It seems the Indian will hold the American to his word.

This will create anger across the region. If the US helps India against China than which side will Russia take, Central Asian states? What about Pakistan? Do you think that the US will neutralize Pakistani by attacking it before the China-India war?

 

[GentlemanObserver]

This will create anger across the region. If the US helps India against China than which side will Russia take, Central Asian states? What about Pakistan? Do you think that the US will neutralize Pakistani by attacking it before the China-India war?

Do you think the US will "BACK" India?

I DON'T think so!

 

[Renegade]

If you are quoting him, i wouldn't take thsi answer as "Yes, Foreign journalists are banned in GB". If i were the anchor, i would have asked a direct question for confirmation. I would have sought a Yes or No answer. In this case, he is right to deny that he didn't say what you think he did. You are assuming that he did due to the nature of his answer. It was ambigious.

Mate thats pretty much what he said. The decision moved on and Mr.Parthasrthy didn't get a chance to get a Yes or No reply. Even if the second direct question was asked, it is highly unlikely that he would have given a direct answer for he was very evasive in the first case itself.

Nevertheless you seem to have derived your interpretation of events, but i think that you need to watch the video for a more comprehensive understanding. But for me his answer was clear enough. I am going to leave it at that, this is getting to be a bore now. Even paladin has said goodbye to play with his toys.

 

[GentlemanObserver]

I am going to leave it at that, this is getting to be a bore now. Even paladin has said goodbye to play with his toys.

this is getting to be a bore now.

AWW... and we were having such fun.

Even paladin has said goodbye to play with his toys.

again you assume too much. What makes you think im a HE?

 

[muse]

If the US helps India against China...

There is no "if" - and it might create anger, but first all players will try and see how this plays out and how they can take advantage - India wants "a larger role" in the region, perhaps it is not busy enough at home.

 

[SEAL]

Chinese and Pakistan authorities have to move fast rail and highway should be complete by 2012.

 

[GUNNER]

I am going to leave it at that, this is getting to be a bore now. Even paladin has said goodbye to play with his toys.

Come on mate, it was just starting to be fun !
Anyways, you have the right to believe what you want to. But it just ain't true !

 

[Renegade]

Come on mate, it was just starting to be fun !
Anyways, you have the right to believe what you want to. But it just ain't true !

 

[footmarks]

Do you think the US will "BACK" India?

I DON'T think so!

I second that. US will never enter a war for anyone unless the rival country is an oil rich country or there is a direct attack on US.

 

[muse]

What the US wants is to "encourage" is the use of the Indian to give the Chinese cause to be deflected, distracted - and the US will provide as much support as it think is necessary to bring things to such a level that one or both parties appeal to the US to act as a arbiter.

Today total volumes of trade between China and India is a sobering number, certainly many many times more than trade between Pakistan and China - China may decide that it does not need to confront India and that it may be better to isolate it, the US again, will be there to pick up the slack by pushing through advantaghes to India as it did with the "special" process and rules for the nuclear deals.

 

[DesiGuy]

I second that. US will never enter a war for anyone unless the rival country is an oil rich country or there is a direct attack on US.

I disagree. Neither Israel is an oil rich country or neither anything like direct attack possibility is there.

US supports it's "important" allies.

 

[sergente rehan]

For all indian members and don't try to say that i'm generalizing bcz it's you only indian members who are doing some meanless comments in almost 99% of posts. i already explained that i've first hand expierience in this matter as i've worked in Italy and in Pakistan with local political leaders and italian politicians ho i've personally accompained in visits to Gilgit-Baltistan areas. I don't want to disclose any more info but journalists are ging freely everywhere in Gilgit-Baltistan region and mostly these areas are visited by tourists and people who love mountains like professional climbers etc. And regarding chinese army for sure it's been already explained although i don't see any logic behind explaining all this to few indian members who are only trying to flame with there comments and want to satisfy there useless needs to do BS comments against Pakistan and China....some comments like how many bases pakistan have given to U.S. or nato or chinese so we Pakistan don't have any base for us.....what are these crap comments? all this leads me to think that ignorance has no limits!

We have given to U.S. one airbase (Shahbaz) back in 2002 now that's under our own controll....anyway if we decide to give any base or want to host chinese militry personal this dosen't have to concern indians...it's our internal matter!

 

[applesauce]

I disagree. Neither Israel is an oil rich country or neither anything like direct attack possibility is there.

US supports it's "important" allies.

also russia is fairly rich in oil and resources but the US will NEVER directly attack russia unless there is a direct role to America itself

 

[fatman17]

ASIA PACIFIC
Date Posted: 02-Sep-2010

Jane's Defence Weekly


India confirms presence of PLA battalion in Pakistani Kashmir

Rahul Bedi JDW Correspondent - New Delhi


The Indian Army has confirmed that a Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) infantry battalion is stationed in the Khunjerab pass in Pakistan-administered Kashmir's Gilgit-Baltistan region to provide security for workers building a high-speed railway and road.

This road and rail line will eventually link China's Xinjiang province to Gwadar and the adjoining Pasni and Omara ports on Pakistan's Western Makran coast in Balochistan province. China has been developing the transport link for more than eight years to gain access to the Persian Gulf, from where it imports more than 60 per cent of its oil supplies.

It takes up to four to six weeks for Chinese oil tankers to ferry oil from West Asia, but once the surface links via Gilgit and Baltistan in the region known as the Northern Areas are constructed it will take only 48 hours, according to senior Indian Army officers.

Indian Army intelligence officers, alerted to the PLA deployment in Pakistan-administered Kashmir by a recent report in The New York Times, believe the number of Chinese troops in that region will soon be tripled to brigade strength - about 3,000 to 5,000 personnel.

Pakistan, which does not allow independent media or observers into the Northern areas, has dismissed the Times reports as baseless and Indian's reaction to it as "hype".

China has also denied the reports as "baseless" and stemming from "ulterior purposes". "Some people are making fabrications to destroy relations between China, Pakistan and India, but in their attempt will arrive nowhere," foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Ju said at a regular briefing in Beijing on 2 September.

Quoting foreign intelligence sources, Pakistani journalists and human rights workers, however, the Times claims that about 7,000 to 10,000 PLA personnel are stationed in the Northern Areas.

Indian assessments indicate that the PLA presence has doubled as a bulwark to prevent the infiltration of Islamist Jihadists from Pakistan into Xinjiang province. "The PLA keeps the region under strict watch to avoid infiltration of Jihadists into China from the Northern Areas," said one military officer.

Security sources in New Delhi said the PLA presence in the Northern Areas will feature prominently in India's Chiefs of Staff Committee (CoSC) meeting, scheduled for early September.

Chaired by Air Chief Marshal P V Naik, the CoSC is expected to assess the seriousness of this development and accordingly inform the Indian Ministry of Defence, which in turn would appraise the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The Times report also stated that mystery surrounded the construction of 22 tunnels in secret locations in the Gilti-Baltistan area, from where even Pakistanis were barred. Tunnels, it declared, would be necessary for a projected gas pipeline from Iran to China that would cross the Himalayas through Gilgit, but they could also be used as missile storage sites.

India is concerned about these developments as Kashmir is divided between it and Pakistan, which is a close Chinese military and nuclear ally.

Any incursion into Kashmir by the Chinese is of vital strategic importance to India's military establishment, which has been to war with both its nuclear-armed neighbours since independence.

Analysts said Beijing, wary of increased US military presence in the Persian Gulf and having no formidable blue water navy, feels "defenceless" against any possible hostile action by the West to choke its energy supplies. This perceived vulnerability has resulted in China scrambling for an alternative safe supply route for its energy shipments via Gwadar to fuel its impressive economic growth.

The cost of modernising Gwadar is an estimated USD1.16 billion, of which China has contributed USD198 million and Pakistan USD50 million towards the first phase. China has also invested another USD200 million into building a coastal highway connecting Gwadar with the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi.

The second phase, expected to cost USD526 million, will involve building nine additional berths and terminals at Gwadar and will also be financed by China. Eventually a garrison will be based at Gwadar, in addition to an air defence unit alongside an international airport capable of handling large commercial airliners.