00:00 Just a day after tempers flared up in India after China showed Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai
00:07 Chin as its own territory in the latest edition of its Standard Map, another reason for Indo-China
00:13 conflict is slowly gaining momentum.
00:15 China has ramped up the construction of reinforced personnel bunkers and underground facilities
00:20 in Aksai Chin at a location of around 70 km from the LSE or the Line of Actual Control.
00:27 This has been corroborated by the analysis and comparison of satellite imagery data between
00:32 December 6, 2021 and August 18, 2023 by an investigative team of India Today.
00:38 The comparison clearly shows China's surreptitious infrastructure build-up and reinforced personnel
00:44 bunkers in at least three spots in the region.
00:48 These swift and ongoing constructions of fresh military installations within the Aksai Chin
00:52 region are in complete contradiction to discussions of disengagement and de-escalation.
00:57 The highly detailed images obtained from Maxar Technologies, a US-based space company, depict
01:03 a rapidly expanding military facility furnished with surveillance radars, emerging roads,
01:08 and under-construction structures spanning an area of nearly 250 hectares.
01:13 But what is more important is to emphasize that these constructions have materialized
01:17 just over past few months, a period during which both nations have been involved in border
01:22 negotiations.
01:24 Construction at the new site appears to have peaked soon after the snow melted earlier
01:28 this year.
01:29 A likely combination of PLS, YLC-4 and YLC-8 long-range surveillance radars are also said
01:35 to be present in the region.
01:37 The location also includes multiple subterranean installations that hold the potential for
01:42 strategic utilization by the Chinese military.
01:44 The area still remains active with various earth-moving machinery, sizeable construction
01:49 trucks and cement mixing apparatus visible, all situated at altitudes surpassing 5,000
01:55 meters above sea level.
01:57 Recent satellite imagery displays the connectivity of these facilities through blacktop roads.
02:03 The temporary settlements used for elongated periods by the PLA forces in several nearby
02:07 areas are now likely to be replaced by more permanent military complexes only a few kilometers
02:13 away from the forward locations.
02:15 The accelerated construction activity, particularly over the past three to four months, now casts
02:20 doubt on the prospects for a lasting peace along the line of actual control in the area.
02:32 (upbeat music)
Comments