China doubled air bases and heliports near LAC in three years: Report

New Delhi, Sep 22: In the past three years, China has managed to double its air bases, heliports and air defences near the Line of Actual Control (LAC), a report has said.

The details of these military positions were published in a report that was released on Thursday by Stratfor, which is a leading security and intelligence consultancy. The report authored by Sim Tack, a Belgium based security analyst with Stratfor said that China began building at least 13 new military positions near the Line of Actual Control after the standoff in 2017 with Doklam.

The new positions include, three airbases, five permanent air defence positions and five heliports. Construction on four of the new heliports started only after the onset of the current Ladakh crisis, the report also said.

The 2017 Doklam crisis appears to have shifted China's strategic objectives, with China doubling its total number of airbases, air defence positions and heliports near the Indian border over the past three years, the report also said.

The report further added that the Chinese military is building four air defence positions within the existing airbases along with other facilities such as additional runways and shelters that will help obscure combat aircraft from observation. There has also been more deployment of air defence systems and fighter aircraft to existing facilities, the report also added.

Although the stalemate continues at the Line of Actual Control, both sides during the talks on Monday agreed that India and China need to completely disengage and ensure peace in the border areas.

The problem, sources familiar with the developments tell OneIndia is the deployment of huge weapons platforms by the People's Liberation Army. The PLA has deployed intermediate-ballistic missiles in occupied Aksai Chin. The PLA had resorted to similar tactics in the South China Sea when it test fired DF-26 and DF-21 D missiles to threaten the US Navy aircraft carriers, Ronald Reagan and Nimitz.

The official cited above said that India is not deterred and will counter the PLA in the worst case scenario. The official also said that there would be at least a few more rounds of talks before the disengagement could take place.

The India-China military commander level talks began at 9.30 am on Monday and lasted until 10.30 pm.

Both sides talked hard and to avoid kinetic operations and look for a solution. However both India and China remain deployed at the Line of Actual Control. While both sides adopted a hard line in negotiations, there has been no breakthrough after the marathon meeting.

During the meeting, India reiterated that it expects a complete disengagement by China at the friction points.