Indian and Chinese troops clash
and China builds secret villages
in disputed territory
Welcome to China Uncensored, I’m Chris Chapell.
Remember to like this episode to support the show, it really helps us with YouTube’s
algorithm.
Last week, there was another border clash between Indian and Chinese troops.
Which is surprising.
Not because of the clash, but because of the weather.
You may remember that last summer there were several big clashes between Indian and Chinese
troops at the disputed border between the two countries, known as the Line of Actual
Control.
But there haven’t been any clashes so far this winter.
Partly because both sides are trying to deescalate the conflict.
And partly because it’s really, really cold.
“Troops [along the border] remain deployed at 15,000 to 18,000 feet in temperatures that
drop to minus 31 degrees Fahrenheit.”
How cold is that?
Cold enough to turn boiling water into snow.
Remind me to visit the Line of Actual Control in June and not in January.
Details of the latest border clash are sparse.
We do know that it happened on January 20th.
The Wall Street Journal quotes an unnamed Indian security official as saying “the
incident happened while the Chinese forces were patrolling the area and tried to enter
the Indian territory.”
The Washington Post also spoke to two anonymous Indian officials.
One said that “minor injuries were suffered on both sides.”
And the other described the clash as “hand-to-hand combat.”
Two more Indian security officials told the Associated Press that there were clashes with
sticks and stones.
I hope no one broke any bones.
And at least there weren’t any nail-studded rods, like what Chinese soldiers used during
a brawl along the border back in June.
That clash in June was the deadliest one last year, with at least 20 casualties on the Indian
side, and an unknown number of casualties on the Chinese side.
Since then, both sides have kept a buildup of soldiers along the border, even during
the winter.
“As many as 100,000 troops from the Indian and Chinese armies are now facing off across
inhospitable mountain passes in subzero temperatures in the Ladakh region alone.”
But this latest border skirmish was not in Ladakh.
It was about 750 miles away, at the Naku La area in Sikkim.
Most of the border clashes last year happened in Ladakh.
But an early one back in May was in Sikkim.
One reason for that might be that in Sikkim, Indian troops outnumber Chinese troops.
But so far, both India and China are trying to downplay this latest incident.
The Indian Army called it a “minor faceoff” and said that the situation “was resolved
by local commanders as per established protocols.”
Meanwhile, the editor-in-chief of my favorite Chinese state-run media, the Global Times,
called the reports of a border clash fake news.
That of course means that it’s definitely not fake news.
One reason both sides may be trying to minimize the incident is that just days after it happened,
India and China army commanders held another round of talks on the border dispute, which
both sides said was positive.
“The two sides agreed to push for an early disengagement of the front-line troops.”
But just because both sides say they’re going to push for disengaging troops, doesn’t
mean they’re actually going to disengage any troops.
I’ll tell you why after this short break.
Welcome back.
Both China and India say they want to disengage front-line troops.
But will they actually do it?
This has happened before.
After the clashes back in May and June, both India and China agreed to disengage their
troops from the region.
But India then accused China of not actually disengaging.
Which is part of what led to another border clash in August.
And the Chinese Communist Party has promised to disengage from disputed territory before,
and then just...ignored that promise.
It happened back in 2012, when the Philippines and China had a standoff over the Scarborough
Shoal in the South China Sea.
“The Philippine forces left as part of an American-mediated deal in which both sides
were to pull back while the dispute was negotiated.
Chinese forces remained, however, and gained control.”
Yet another reminder that you can’t trust the Chinese Communist Party.
But somehow, people keep forgetting.
Do I need to put it on a t-shirt or something?
Anyway, the Scarborough Shoal situation is not the only way in which the China-India
border dispute is similar to China’s slow takeover of the South China Sea.
We’ve talked before about the Chinese regime’s salami slicing strategy, where they take over
a little bit of territory at a time until they control the whole area.
That’s something they’ve used in the South China Sea and on the Indian border.
And salami slicing works.
“China may now control as much as 400 square miles of territory that India considers its
own.”
But once you’re done slicing the salami, you’ve got to...occupy the salami.
Which is why the Chinese Communist Party is now building secret villages in the disputed
territory of Arunachal Pradesh.
“Two Indian government officials in Arunachal said the Chinese had recently built villages
in disputed areas along the border in places that used to have just a few remote military
posts.”
This satellite image shows one of the villages, which was built at some point between August
2019 and November 2020.
Arunachal Pradesh is yet another region of the disputed border, far away from Ladakh
and Sikkim.
When you look at this map, it becomes clear how challenging this is for India.
The border with China stretches for over 2,000 miles.
A lot of that covers sparsely populated, mountainous regions.
It’s a huge challenge to keep an eye on the entire border to make sure that the Chinese
Communist Party isn’t slicing any of your salami.
The area where the villages were built has been effectively controlled by China since
1959.
But according to local Arunachal officials, there’s a whole lot of new salami slicing
going on.
“China has engaged in a flurry of construction projects along the border and rendered areas
that used to be accessible to people on the Indian side now inaccessible.”
The same thing is happening almost 2,000 miles away, at the other end of the border in Ladakh.
“According to Ladakh leaders, China has stepped up construction projects along the
frontier with India...The result is that China can move troops—and civilians—to the borderlands
much faster than India.”
India has tried to counter that with more construction of their own.
But in some cases, Chinese troops and civilians are using the Indian roads to trespass on
Indian territory as well.
Still, the Chinese Communist Party has been building roads or even military outposts in
the disputed region for decades.
But building civilian villages is a new escalation.
And it’s similar to what the Party did in the South China Sea, where they built artificial
islands as military bases, but also established a civilian presence on the islands.
A prime example of this is Sansha City, which was established back in 2012 on the Paracel
Islands, and now has a population of almost 2,000 people.
Having a large civilian population on that island means there’s almost no way for any
other country that also claims the Paracel Islands to take them back.
China has occupied the salami.
And it looks like they’re trying the same tactic on the Indian border.
The villages that we know about so far are being built in areas that the Chinese Communist
Party has controlled for decades.
But it wouldn’t be surprising if the Party started doing the same thing in more recently
taken territory.
That way it becomes harder for India to push back.
So how does the Party explain the villages they built in Arunachal Pradesh?
That’s easy!
It’s just part of China’ poverty alleviation scheme.
A source close to the Chinese military told the South China Morning Post that the village
was a “good opportunity to build houses for local Tibetans using poverty relief money.”
Can you really blame the Chinese Communist Party for lifting people out of poverty?
Of course, the poverty alleviation scheme in Tibet is also about resettling nomadic
herders and forcing them off their lands, but that’s a topic for a different China
Uncensored episode.
And now it’s time for me to answer a question from a member of the China Uncensored 50 cent
army.
They’re viewers like you who contribute as little as a dollar an episode on the crowd
funding website Patreon.
That’s patreon.com/ChinaUncensored.
Jesper sjøholm asks, GREAT SHOW BUT HOW CAN I BUY THE SOCIALISM MONOPOLY..???!
Ah, yes.
Jesper is referring to the latest episode of our podcast China Unscripted, in which
Matt, Shelley, and I played Monopoly Socialism, the board game.
Which is a real thing that you can buy.
And it was definitely more fun than actual socialism.
Because you can stop playing at any time.
Shelley and Matt actually got me Monopoly Socialism for Christmas.
If you’re in the US, the game is available from capitalist running dogs like Amazon,
Walmart, and eBay.
I’ve put a link to the game below on Amazon.
If you buy the game through that link, it helps support the show.
Thanks for your question Jesper.
Enjoy the game.
And thank you for watching.
Remember to like, subscribe, and share this episode.
Once again I’m Chris Chappell.
See you next time.