China building helipads, trenches at Doklam: Government

NEW DELHI: The People's Liberation Army (PLA) has undertaken "construction of some infrastructure, including sentry posts, trenches and helipads" near the face-off site between Indian and Chinese troops at Doklam in the Sikkim-Bhutan-Tibet tri-junction area, said defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday.

"Post disengagement from the face-off in 2017, troops of both sides have re-deployed themselves away from their respective positions at the face-off site. The strength of both sides has been reduced," said the minister, in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha.

As was earlier reported by TOI, though Indian troops in June last year had blocked China's attempt to extend the existing motorable road southwards towards the Jampheri Ridge in south Doklam, which led to the 73-day troop face-off before disengagement on August 28, the fallout has been that the PLA has constructed military infrastructure and helipads as well as deployed around 1,600 troops in north Doklam throughout the winter for the first time.

Sitharaman, on her part, said the Indian government "regularly takes up the issues" arising along the 4,057-km line of actual control with China through diplomatic channels and established mechanisms, including border personnel meetings, flag meetings and meetings of the "Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs".

But the Indian security establishment believes that PLA soldiers may return in "greater numbers" to the Doklam area (or the Dolam Plateau) for some more muscle-flexing after the winter is over. Junior defence minister Subhash Bhamre last week had also said that the situation along border with China was "sensitive", with the potential to escalate in the coming months.

To a separate question on a Pentagon report that said China was setting up a military base in Pakistan, Sitharaman said the government keeps a constant watch on developments having a bearing on India's security and takes measures to safeguard it.

"The government is aware of China's stated objective of becoming a 'maritime power'. As part of this strategy, China is developing ports and other infrastructure facilities in the littoral countries in the Indian Ocean Region, including in the vicinity of India's maritime boundary," she said.