By Express News Service
NEW DELHI: A new cluster of villages has been constructed by China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Arunachal Pradesh. This is the second such village cluster along Arunachal Pradesh apart from the additional Integrated Villages being constructed by China along the LAC.
Referring to a set of satellite images, the website of a national television reported on Thursday, “China has constructed a second enclave or cluster of at least 60 buildings in Arunachal Pradesh.” This village lies 93 km east of a China-constructed village in Arunachal Pradesh and it did not exist till 2019, the website added.
In a recent report, the US Department of Defence had reported of another village of 100 houses which China had constructed along the LAC. Reacting strongly on this report. India had said it does not accept the illegal construction.
MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “As we had stated then, China has undertaken construction activities in the past several years along the border areas, including those that it has illegally occupied over the decades. India has neither accepted such illegal occupation of our territory nor has it accepted the unjustified Chinese claims.”
As reported earlier by this Newspaper, China has been developing integrated ‘Model Villages’ along the 3,488-km Line of Actual Control (LAC) which has dual-use and acts like an ‘extended cantonment’.
A large complement of approximately 60,000 troops of the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA are deployed along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh from May 2020. The tension prevails as the two sides continue with the parlay of military and diplomatic meetings to resolve the tense deployment.
In the series of meetings, the 23rd meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) was held on 18 November 2021.
The two sides had candid and in-depth discussions on the situation along the LAC in Western Sector of India-China Border areas and also reviewed the developments since the last meeting of the Senior Commanders of both sides which was held on 10th October 2021.
Ministry of External Affairs in its statement said, “It was agreed that both sides should hold the next (14th) round of the Senior Commanders meeting at an early date to achieve the objective of complete disengagement from all the friction points along the LAC in the Western Sector in accordance with the existing bilateral agreements and protocols.” And, the two sides should in the interim also continue to ensure a stable ground situation and avoid any untoward incident, added MEA.
