While the India-China standoff at Eastern Ladakh is still rife, the ministry of external affairs on Monday cautiously responded to the reports over Chinese building a whole village in a disputed region of Arunachal Pradesh, located on the banks of the River Tsari Chu, in the Upper Subansiri district.
Stating that it has been closely monitoring the village set up in 4.5 kms of Indian territory, the ministry assured that it would take necessary measures to safeguard the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. According to one of the national TV’s report, the images were dated November 1, 2020.
However, what turned debatable is a few of Indian officials claiming that the village area has been ineffective Chinese control since 1959. But, earlier only a Chinese military post existed, but this time a full-fledged village that can house thousands has been built.
In contrary to the claims made, the channel compared two satellite images provided by Planet Labs which clearly depicted that the village had been built sometime in the past 15 months. While the first image, from August 26, 2019, did not show any construction activity, the recent images have constructions and roads.
It can be noted that China claims the whole of Arunachal Pradesh as South Tibet and there are wide divergences in the perception of the border in this area.
