Indian Army's Assessment Of Chinese Construction In Shaksgam Valley: Implications & Concerns

The military implications of China building a road in Shaksgam Valley are being studied by the Indian Army, as Beijing's physical occupation could potentially threaten Indian defences in Siachen Glacier. The 5180 square kilometres of Indian territory in Shaksgam Valley was illegally ceded by Pakistan to China in 1963.

A strong protest against Chinese road construction in the Valley was lodged by India last week in Delhi as well as in Beijing.

Indian Army's Assessment Of Chinese Construction: Implications & Concerns

The road could potentially be part of an alignment that links the Karakoram Highway to Upper Shaksgam Valley, bordering the Siachen Glacier. The new road transverses through the 16333 feet Aghil Pass and could provide an alternative alignment to Karakoram Pass via Upper Shaksgam and thereon to Khunjerab Pass in Northern Areas of Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

The matter is of serious concern to India, for if the road is extended by China to Upper Shaksgam Valley, then the Indian positions on Siachen Glacier will face twin threats---Pakistan in the South and China to the North. It is only logical to assume that long-term defence planning will need to be undertaken by the Indian Army to deal with Chinese expansion in the Occupied Shaksgam Valley.

Although the current road construction represents a patch between two possible alignments in the long term, it is quite evident that China wants to link Lower and Upper Shaksgam Valley through road and military outposts to pressure Indian Army positions on Siachen Glacier and Saltoro Ridge. This is not to say that the area is largely glaciated with high mountains on all sides and dominated by K 2 Peak and the Concordia complex.

The issue of Shaksgam Valley has been raised by India in the Special Representative Dialogue on Boundary Resolution, the last meeting of which was held in December 2019. Even though the Indian Special Representative Ajit Doval met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines in BRICS in South Africa on July 24, 2023, the SR dialogue has virtually been put on the back burner after the Chinese PLA threw all the bilateral agreements out of the window and transgressed in East Ladakh in May 2020.

The loss of Colonel Santosh Babu and his 19 troopers in a clash with PLA at Galwan on June 15, 2020, has further hardened positions on both sides, as India has no intentions of allowing Beijing to unilaterally impose the 1959 line on East Ladakh.

At least two protests have been lodged by India in the past two years against road construction in Shaksgam Valley, making it clear to China that protecting its territory is right, and measures will be taken to ensure that road construction is halted in the illegally occupied territory.