Claude Arpi
Apart from the increasing presence of PLA troops in PoK, India must take cognizance of the fact that China is fast spinning a web of roads and railway networks in the region that effectively traps India within its own borders and poses a serious security threat. India has ignored similar Chinese acts of aggression in the past and has paid heavily for it. New Delhi must not repeat its mistakes
Around the time Mr Manmohan Singh arrived on the island of Hainan to attend the Third Summit of BRICS nations, an article of Willy Lam, the veteran China watcher appeared in East-Asia-Intel.com.
Mr Lam’s point was: “Call it damage-control diplomacy. Since President Hu Jintao’s American visit in January, Chinese diplomats and ‘official’ academics have been trying to reassure the world of Beijing’s non-aggressive, ‘peaceful development’ diplomatic posture.”
Mr Lam particularly mentioned the role of the Dean of School of International Studies in Peking University Wang Jisi who in an article in The Global Times asserted that China “had no ambition of displacing the US as the world’s No. 1 power”.
After the return of the Prime Minister, a similar feeling was apparent in the Indian Press: China was trying to mend fences.
However, several new issues have cropped up between New Delhi and Beijing. One of the most serious is the presence of Chinese soldiers in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.
A few months ago in an opeditorial in The New York Times, Selig Harrison had sent a warning, ‘informing’ India that Chinese troops were roaming around Gilgit-Baltistan, legally a part of Indian territory. Mr Harrison spoke of two important new developments in Gilgit-Baltistan: “A simmering rebellion against Pakistani rule and the influx of an estimated 7,000 to 11,000 soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army.”
Lt Gen KT Parnaik, the Northern Army Commander had confirmed the information about China’s military presence in PoK and cautioned: “China’s links with Pakistan through PoK facilitated quicker deployment of Pakistani forces to complement the Communist neighbour’s military operations, outflanking India and jeopardising its security.”
Beijing reacted quickly: The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei denied the presence of the PLA troops in PoK: “Chinese military personnel were present in PoK only for the purpose of providing relief to victims of massive floods that affected the areas.”
But there are more serious issues: China is slowly encircling India with new railway lines. During the last National People’s Congress meet in March, it was announced that during China’s 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), Beijing would build a railway line between Golmud on the Tibetan plateau (Qinghai province) and Korla in Xinjiang.
The Vice Governor of Qinghai Luo Yulin announced that “the new line will cut the train journey between the two capital cities by more than 1,000 km.” He also added: “The new railway line will play a significant role in boosting the economic development in the country’s western regions and promoting exchanges among different ethnic groups.”
An ominous sentence when one knows the resentment of the Tibetan and Uyghur populations against Beijing. The construction has apparently already started and the project will be completed by 2015.
After invading Tibet in 1950, one of the great dreams of Mao Zedong was to link China’s two newly acquired provinces of Tibet and Xinjiang. The Tibet-Xinjiang road was eventually built, cutting through Indian territory in the Aksai Chin region of Ladakh.
Recently declassified US documents featured the transcript of a conversation between the Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai and Henry Kissinger, the US President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs. During the encounter which took place in July 1971 in Beijing, the Chinese Premier explained the origin of the Sino-Indian conflict of 1962 and mentioned the road, built without Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru noticing it.
Mr Zhou affirmed: “The Aksai Chin Plateau is the route along which we have to travel when crossing from Sinkiang to the Ali (Ngari) district of Tibet. The height of the plateau is 5000 meters. We started to build this highway in 1951” (The first Indian ‘informal note’ to complain about the road dates October 18, 1958).
Mr Zhou continued: “…Even three years after the road was built, Nehru didn’t know about it. In my discussions with Nehru on the Sino-Indian boundary in 1956, he suddenly raised the issue of the road. I said, ‘You didn’t even know we were building a road the last three years, and now you suddenly say that it is your territory.’ I remarked upon how strange this was.”
Mr Zhou’s words obviously support China’s position on the issue, but the fact remains that the Government of India was extremely slow to react to what became China’s most strategic road (at least as far as India is concerned).
The Chinese Government has now decided to link Tibet and Xinjiang by train. Though the new railway track will not cross through Indian territory, it has serious military implications. One can only hope that New Delhi will keep its eyes and ears open, especially if another railway line is constructed between Xinjiang and PoK, through Gilgit area.
But that is not all: Beijing is planning to ‘double’ the 1,904 kilometers Lanxin Railway linking Lanzhou in Gansu province to Urumqi, the Xinjiang capital.
Following the ancient Silk Road and cutting across the Gobi desert, this line will run parallel to the existing Lanxin Railway. It will also be operational in 2015.
Ren Shaoqiang, the Chief Engineer responsible for the construction, told Xinhua that “compared with the Qinghai-Tibet plateau railway and the existing line between Lanzhou and Urumqi, construction of this fast rail line is more challenging”.
Xinhua commented: “This line is designed for trains traveling at up to 300 kilometers per hour, much faster than the current 120 kilometers per hour on the existing line, cutting travel time between Lanzhou and Urumqi to about six hours.”
The cost of building a railway track in this remote area is twice higher than for ordinary rail line. Lanxin Railway planned to invest a staggering 21 billion US dollars in the project. Xinhua admits: “Analysts are divided over whether the benefits outweigh the costs of building high-speed lines in the ecologically fragile western regions”.
But there is an explanation, a senior researcher at the China Academy of Railway Sciences told Xinhua: “It’s more of a political thing. It’s more about national defence and ethnic unity. The new railway is expected to facilitate transport of energy resources from the vast desolate northwest to other regions of the country.”
In other words, it will help transport oil and minerals from the energy-rich Xinjiang province to the Mainland and quickly transfer troops and military equipment from one restive area to another (from Tibet to Xinjiang and vice-versa) as well as to the border with India and Nepal.
Can you imagine a super fast train running from Jammu to Leh?
Yes, it is a mirage, but a railway linking Tibet to Xinjiang will be a reality in 2015; it could be a real nightmare for India. Will New Delhi wake up before it is too late?
No comments:
Post a Comment