India is covering up the true extent of border clashes with China to avoid panicking the public, senior Indian Army sources have told The Telegraph.
Several incidents are taking place in the northern state of Arunachal Pradesh every month, the sources said, with soldiers from the two nuclear-armed countries sometimes engaging in violent hand-to-hand combat, often using clubs and other homemade melee weapons.
China seized Arunachal Pradesh during a war with India in 1962 and returned it as part of a peace deal, but Beijing has maintained its claim over the territory ever since. In recent years, Delhi has accused China of stepping up aggression along the border and attempting to gradually seize strategically important territory.
A clash on December 9 in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang district, in which at least 20 Indian soldiers were injured, was widely reported. But Indian Army sources said such incidents are commonplace.
“Face-offs with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) have become a common feature along the border in Arunachal Pradesh, particularly in the Yangtse area,” said a senior Indian Army officer. “They have happened on average two or three times a month, recently, and the incursions have increased in frequency over the last two years.”
The Indian Army followed protocol when they encountered Chinese troops, unfurling banners with messages in mandarin urging them to fall back, although the requests were often ignored, the officer said.
“Sometimes it’s peaceful and sometimes they resist, triggering clashes. Sometimes we have to use stones and rods to push them back,” said the officer.
India’s border forces are under strict instructions to keep quiet about the regular clashes between Indian and Chinese troops.
“We get directions from the top not to discuss these incidents and the reason seems to be political. It seems the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wants to play down the crisis with China,” said the officer.
India’s next general election is scheduled for 2024. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to win a landslide victory but much of his popularity rests on his image as a strongman who can defend India against China and Pakistan.
“Sometimes it’s important to hold back information because rushing out with information complicates the subsequent negotiations,” said General Deependra Singh Hooda, the former General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Indian Army's Northern Command.
Chinese herdsmen settling in Indian territory
“However, the Indian government should be transparent with the situation on the LAC.”
Beijing and Delhi share a 2,100 mile long border known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC), which is poorly marked and troops or civilians from either side can easily stray across it without realising.
In 2021, China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Zhao Lijian, said Arunachal Pradesh had been part of China “since ancient times” and claimed the territory was part of South Tibet.
Chinese control of Arunachal Pradesh would allow Beijing to encircle Bhutan and also isolate India’s northeastern states.
In June 2020, PLA troops seized over 20 square miles of Indian land in the union territory of Ladakh, which lies in western India and borders China, killing at least 20 Indian soldiers in the process in brutal hand-to-hand combat, armed with clubs and rocks.
In Arunachal Pradesh, Chinese efforts have been more subtle. Beijing is allegedly sending nomadic Chinese herdsmen into Arunachal Pradesh, who have migrated peacefully across the two countries’ border for generations, in search of grazing land for their livestock.
But, the herdsmen are now being told to settle inside Indian territory and construct permanent structures, like stables, where they are then joined by PLA troops under the premise of protection, thus shifting the border.
“They employ different methods to occupy our land. Sometimes they send their herdsmen deep into our territory who create makeshift shelters for themselves. Subsequently, the PLA lays claim on the territory,” said another Indian officer.
“Also, the PLA comes during the night and lays stones on our land. During the day patrolling they gather stones to give them the shape of a wall to lay claim on our territory.”
In November 2021, the Pentagon confirmed the existence of two Chinese-built villages inside Indian territory in Arunachal Pradesh.
