Indian officials said Chinese troops were laying a network of optical fibre cables at a western Himalayan flashpoint with India, suggesting they were digging in for the long haul despite high-level talks aimed at resolving a standoff there.
Such cables, which would provide forward troops with secure lines of communication to bases in the rear, have recently been spotted to the south of Pangong Tso Lake in the Himalayan region of Ladakh, a senior government official said.
“They have been laying optical fibre cables on the southern bank at breakneck speed,” an official was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh addressed the parliament on the India-China border row and has said that China does not “recognise the current boundary. We have been following the customary line that was agreed upon in the 1960s. But China does not agree to this now and says that both sides have different perspectives of this line.”
In June, China and India were engaged in a violent face-off in Galwan Valley. Chinese troops killed 20 Indian soldiers in a premeditated move and the clash was the first deadly confrontation between the two countries in 45 years.
While the Chinese side is thought to have suffered 43 casualties in the Galwan face-off, the number could exceed 60, according to Paskal.
