Chinese infrastructure build-up near Ladakh ‘alarming’, says top US General

Chinese activity near Ladakh is “eye-opening” and some of the infrastructure being created is alarming, a top US General has said. General Charles A Flynn, Commanding General, US Army Pacific, described it as “destabilizing and corrosive behaviour” by China as he talked about the Chinese infrastructure build-up across the Himalayan frontier, reports NDTV.

On Chinese military expansion in the Ladakh region, General Flynn said, “One has to ask the question, ‘why?’”

‘Alarming situation’

“I think some of the infrastructure that is being created in the Western Theatre Command is alarming,” the General, who oversees the Asia-Pacific region, told a select group of journalists.

Also read: China builds new larger bridge on Pangong Lake in Ladakh; India protests

China’s ”incremental and insidious path, and destabilising and corrosive behaviour” projected on to the region was “simply not helpful”, he said.

”I think it is worthy of us working together as a counterweight to some of those corrosive and corrupted behaviours that the Chinese [demonstrate],” said the General.

Joint high-altitude training missions

India and the US are set to conduct high-altitude training missions in the Himalayas as part of the Yuddh Abhyas exercises this October. The location has not been specified. Indian forces will then train in similar extreme-cold weather conditions in Alaska, the NDTV report added.

The exercises are meant to be extremely high-level joint operations across the gamut of high-altitude warfare.

The exercises will include new technology, air force assets, attack aviation, logistics, and information sharing on a real-time basis. “These are all invaluable opportunities that the Indian Army and the US Army can capitalise on,” General Flynn said.

Satellite images have shown a Chinese bridge being constructed across the Pangong Lake in Ladakh. The Chinese have also significantly upgraded and expanded their airfields and road infrastructure ahead of Pangong lake.

Also read: Chinese threat in Ladakh not reduced in any way: Army chief Naravane

Despite more than a dozen rounds of military talks, the Chinese have not withdrawn from several areas that they illegally occupied after breaching the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh.