English
Why Yangtse: Eastern Tawang especially Yangtse area has always been a tinderbox. Its strategic location and tactical importance makes it a bone of contention between both countries for so many decades. The recent clashes of December 9, 2022, were not the first ones as there have been several minor clashes in the past. Although geographically the area clearly falls under the Indian territories but since the Sino-Indian border dispute is older than India’s independence and China never accepted these borders, the situation remains under dispute. Every year Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) sends its troops to this area to claim, however, this time they not only failed miserably but got a thorough thrashing too at the hands of the Indian Army.
It is pertinent to understand why Yangtse is so important that PLA is compelled to come here again and again. The entire Tawang area is extremely sensitive and has witnessed a severe bloodbath during the 1962 Sino-Indian War where an entire Infantry Brigade of the Indian Army was wiped off thanks to our political leadership. Tawang is the gateway to mainland India from Southern Tibet and is the easiest route for China to lay its physical claim on Arunachal Pradesh.
Yangtse is located barely 25 Kms (As crow flies) from Tawang and along with Bum la axis forms one of the two approaches to access Tawang. It is a flat ground surrounded by hills on its Northern, Western, and Eastern Side (Northern hills lie in China) while on the South-West side lies Mago which is the entrance of the Yangtse plateau. Being a flat ground, it is suitable for the deployment of troops and can facilitate easy maintenance. As such it is extremely rare to find flat grounds in mountains.
Yangtse is located at an altitude of 15000-15500 feet while the surrounding heights vary from 16000 to 17000 feet. Its Northeastern approach terminates into China and since Yangtse is located at a height, offers a clear view of Chinese posts across the LAC as well as their maintenance routes. Towards the north, in the foothills of the Yangtse plateau, there are Chinese posts located in Cona County and a few KMs away from LAC opposite Yangtse, they have their important military base in Xiaokang. Xiaokang is a logistics base en route to Bhutan, Sikkim, and Dokalam area serving their needs hence China has to dominate it at any cost. There is also a hot water spring and a small shrine of Tibetan Kham people on the LAC (towards the Chinese Side) in the foothills of Yangtse named as Chumig Gyatser which even the Chinese PLA considers sacred.
Now comes the main aspect as to why China is so eager to dominate this area. Towards the north-western shoulder of the Yangtse Plateau, there lies a ridge which also terminates into Cona County of China. Only approachable from Yangtse plateau, this ridge has two important heights each having an altitude of more than 17000 feet. These heights are Kharsagla and Chemakarpola. While Kharsagla is the first one from Yangtse, Chemakarpola is next to it. Both these heights offer an unrestricted view of the entire Tawang Valley along with the Bum la area on the Indian side but as every coin has two faces, these peaks also offer a clear-cut view of the entire Nagdoh bowl of China. It was Nagdoh from where the Chinese offensive started in 1962 and this area will always be a trigger of action from the Chinese side in Arunachal Pradesh. As long as Indian forces are dominating it, we will know about the movement of Chinese troops beforehand but if China comes and occupies them, they will have an unrestricted view of more than half of Arunachal Pradesh. So it is a do-or-die situation for China to occupy this land.
Till 1990, there was an unwritten government policy of not constructing any infrastructure in areas adjoining Chinese borders hence Yangtse was not approachable and as a result, Chinese troops used to frequent the area all year round. They were so audacious that they constructed a proper track from their posts to the Yangtse plateau while Indian Forces used to dominate the area by annual patrolling. By 2006-2007, firstly a foot track and then a mule track (For movement of Mules/ Animal transport) was constructed which facilitated the deployment of a company (Around 120 soldiers) there. After the present government took over and anticipated the Chinese threat in detail, a motorable track was constructed somewhere around 2016 and that is what has been the reason for Chinese ingress.
Earlier Chinese troops had free movement in this area which they used to claim but now their activities are restricted so their anger was inevitable. There have been several clashes in the past in this area but all of them were on a small scale, daytime clashes, of a limited scale, and the troop involvement was less. Not only this, but the incidents were also always handled well by local commanders and no untoward incident ever took place. But this time, Chinese intentions were really bad. Firstly, they sent a battalion-size force of approx. 300 soldiers to occupy this area as against less than 50 Indian soldiers who were stationed there. Secondly, this time they were armed with clubs, sticks wrapped in barbed wire, monkey gloves, and maces which disclosed their nefarious motives, and thirdly they moved to the Indian post in the pitch dark of the night as their movement was first detected at around 03:00 AM on December 9, 2022, by the thermal imagers located on the border posts of Indian Army.
As Indian troops were alarmed in time and reinforcements from nearby units reached Yangtse almost immediately, not only the repetition of a Galwan-like incident was thwarted but the Chinese PLA also got a tough lesson. However, the possibility of repetition of such incidents in the future and at some other places at the Sino-Indian border in the coming time is extremely high. China wants to keep the issue of Tibet burning so that it can divert the attention of the rest of the world from turbulences in the Taiwan Strait. As winters shall be getting over, India should be more vigilant and careful on the Chinese front.
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