Editorial: Dragon on the prowl

The latest action in Shaksgam Valley falls into a familiar pattern of China’s territorial misadventures.

China is at it again. Construction of a road in the Shaksgam Valley, which is part of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) ceded by Pakistan to China in 1963, must be seen as a provocative action. The satellite images have provided irrefutable evidence of China’s territorial muscle-flexing near the Siachen Glacier. This area holds strategic significance for India since it is located about 50 km from the Siachen Glacier, the world’s highest battlefield. Not surprisingly, India has registered a protest with China against the construction of the road that can connect Muzaffarabad through the Mustagh Pass to Yarkahnd in Xinjiang. The Shaksgam Valley is part of Indian territory. New Delhi never recognised the so-called China-Pakistan Boundary Agreement of 1963 through which Pakistan unlawfully ceded the area to China. In fact, the government has repeatedly reiterated in Parliament India’s commitment to take back all areas of the PoK, of which Shaksgam Valley is a part. In the past too, India had raised objections to the Chinese construction activity in the Shaksgam Valley but the intensity of protest gathered steam after the 2017 stand-off in Bhutan’s Doklam. The latest provocative action, which is an illegal attempt to alter facts on the ground, falls into a familiar pattern of China’s territorial misadventures. Pakistan continues to facilitate construction activities by China in these territories for commercial and strategic purposes. Experts fear that increased military cooperation between Pakistan and China resulting from these road projects could escalate tensions in the region.

In 2021, it was reported that Pakistan was looking to develop new overland border crossings with China that would potentially boost their military interoperability against Indian forces in Ladakh and the rest of Kashmir. The route of a proposed new border road is expected to open a new supply line from China to Pakistani forces deployed along the Line of Control. It was also suggested that the roads in the Shaksgam Valley could be used for transporting minerals like uranium mined from Gilgit Baltistan to Xinjiang. The development is fraught with far-reaching implications. If China extends the road to the Upper Shaksgam Valley, then the Indian positions on the Siachen Glacier will face twin threats — Pakistan in the South and China to the North. It is only logical to assume that the Indian Army will have to plan long-term defences to deal with the Chinese expansion in the occupied Shaksgam Valley. It is evident that China wants to link the Lower and Upper Shaksgam Valley through road and military outposts to pressurise Indian Army positions on the Siachen Glacier and Saltoro Ridge. Indian defence experts have long argued that any change in the status quo in this part of occupied Kashmir amounts to a violation of India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. There are also concerns that more such infrastructure projects could threaten the existing security scenario in this mountainous region.

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