Naga said:
India requires a Visa for us to cross the border which China doesn't give. Stalemate. Villages on the borders do have people crossing over illegally time to time.
Its working in China's favour as even the locals from both sides cross over whenever.
Must admit this has to be the only time where we are required to have a visa by our country to cross over than the norm of the destination country as usual.
Naga said:
They have multi lane roads open the year round which would definitely help in fast transport of troops and logistics. Forget about war, roads on our side keep getting blocked the whole year round in peacetime. The Army has lost quite a few people due to the pitiable conditions and single lane roads. Anybody living here can make out how fast additional forces or supplies can be rushed to Tawang from the Indian side.
My point was those roads would be easy to disrupt in wartime by our jets. It would be a different scenario to what you see now. This makes a big difference as you well know the region is not flat, there are many choke points in those valleys & ridges. A road or bridge taken out here & there slows down movement. So yes while they can get lots of equipment & personnel close to the trouble spot faster than we can but actually getting them into the theater will take longer.
And the same applies to us, a week or two fighting at 15k+feet and supplies are over. Cease fire, declare victory, go home.
The only advantage those roads offer is better commerce to the locals in peacetime which is commendable.
Naga said:
Well, I can't vouch for what the media reports but I haven't seen any major troop build up here. There always has been lots of troops deployed here after the 62 debacle but a "major" fresh deployment must be a hugely guarded secret. The military airport in nearby Assam has been upgraded to support Sukhois though.
See
this and
this
Your governor is on record saying there will be an increase of 50k more troops for 'future' contingencies. That i suspect has to do with the succession of where the next TIbet leader comes from. If he comes from China, they will be happy but the Tibetan culture will be as good as dead in the long run. But if he comes from elsewhere things could well be different. This decison has to be made within the next 5-10 years.
Nothing much in Ladakh, which i think is where the bulk of these incursions are occurring.
The $2.9 billion loan recently approved by the ADB over China's objections should bring some much needed changes hopefully. Most of the Indian reports i read made a big issue over the objection but never clarified (unlike the nytimes one) whether we ever got the loan.
Naga said:
As to why they withdrew in 62, does anyone seriously think the capture of Indian territory was just a lark for the Chinese?
The only reason they did withdraw was because of fears of a military partnership between India and the US. A general background of the war can be found
here. Arunachal due to it's inhospitable terrain can be and is a major buffer zone to slow down advancing troops in case of war between the two countries.
That same threat applies even today were things to go out of hand. Commies were the biggest obstacle and fortunately the biggest loser of the last elections.
That means US, Russia, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam as possible allies as China has been at war with all of them in the past.
China is potentially more encircled than we think
Naga said:
Also, I don't think it's a laughing matter. It's pretty bad for troop morale if the Chinese troops keep getting away with their taunts (which is what the incursions look like). If memory serves me right, some intelligence officers were arrested and held by Chinese patrols inside Indian territory in Sikkim(?) in the recent part. The impunity with which they keep intruding boosts their troop's morale and obviously is an insult to the brave people deputed by the Govt. to guard the borders.
But their troops must see us as actually occupying a good bit of
their land and yet they are powerless to do much about it.
Does this mean they have a bigger morale problem than we do and have to compensate accordingly
Naga said:
Also, you have obviously never seen the Indian and Chinese troops together. I have some pics of a recent goodwill meeting at the border which a few friends attended. Dunno about the weapons but the clothing of the Chinese foot soldiers were of much better quality (as in lighter and warmer) than the Indian troops. In a hostile environment even these matter a lot. Remember how Indian troops did not have proper clothing/ equipment to face the harsh environment in Kargil? It's still the same. So much for quality over quantity. Mind you, the quality of the Chinese clothing/ winter equipment is what I've seen in the borders. Dunno if it's the norm for all the Chinese armed forces.
They need to show their troops they are better off maybe more than we do ?
I'm not denying anything you said otherwise.
