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Wednesday, June 18, 2014

India Increasing Troops Along Its Chinese Border




Not a surprise considering (a) China's recent belligerence, (b) India's rocky history with China-- the two countries briefly went to war in 1962, and (c) India's recently elected BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party government.

From India Today (h/t Leslie Eastman at Legal Insurrection):

The new BJP government is keen to send out a strong signal to Beijing regarding border disputes by nearly doubling the deployment of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel on the India-China frontier. Top government sources said the ITBP will very soon have more boots on the ground to effectively guard the border that has witnessed several Chinese incursions in the past few years. The previous UPA government was often criticised for being "soft" on the issue of Chinese incursions. 
The Home Ministry has approved the construction of 54 new border outposts along the disputed frontier with China. A proposal in this regard was made by the ITBP before the polls but the previous government did not go ahead on it. 
With the new outposts, the number of troops on the ground too will increase. Currently, there are close to 40 outposts and nearly 15,000 troops guard the sensitive zones. Sources said the number could now go up to 30,000. "There were critical gaps regarding security on the China border that need to be filled up," said a senior Home Ministry official.
"The increase in deployment should not be construed as an aggressive approach on our part. We are only securing out territory," a top government official said.

I would characterize India's security build-up as more of a domestic political position, rather than any response or in preparation for a direct Chinese threat. China's bellicose stances against the Philippines, Vietnam, South Korea and Japan are another matter entirely...


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