TROOPS BUILD-UP - Government conveys concern to China

BY ELIZABETH R OCHE

India on Friday formally conveyed its concerns to China over reports of the presence of thousands of People's Libera- tion Army troopers in Pakistan- occupied Kashmir--a region In- dia claims is part of its territory.

A foreign ministry official confirmed that India's ambassa- dor to China S. Jaishankar had met and discussed the subject of Chinese “activity and presence“ with vice-minister for foreign af- fairs Zhang Zhijun in Beijing on Friday.

The move comes in the wake of a recent report in The New York Times (NYT) that spoke of the influx of 7,000-11,000 Chi- nese soldiers in the Gilgit- Baltistan region--to ensure un- fettered road and rail access to West Asia through Pakistan.

That would shorten the time taken by Chinese oil tankers to 48 hours from 16 to 25 days, it said.

Many of the Chinese troopers entering Gilgit-Baltistan were expected to work on the railroad project, the report said, adding others were constructing dams and expressways. Some were also building 22 tunnels that could be used for laying a gas pipeline from Iran to China across the Himalayas but could alternatively be used as missile storage sites.

The meeting between Jais- hankar and Zhang also comes a day after Chinese foreign minis- try spokeswoman Jiang Yu dis- missed the NYT report as “total- ly groundless“.

The issue of Chinese troops in Gilgit-Balistan is the latest in a series of developments casting a shadow over the uneasy ties the two countries.

Last year, local media was re- plete with reports of Chinese troop intrusions across the yet- to-be demarcated border in eastern India--a legacy of a brief but bitter 1962 border dis- pute. The Chinese government also protested against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims is part of its territory, during an election campaign. The Indian govern- ment allowing the Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh de- spite Chinese protests and Chi- na issuing stapled visas to Kash- miris did not help matters.

Political and diplomatic ties seemed to be back on an even keel this year with President Pratibha Patil visiting China and national security adviser Shiv Shankar Menon holding talks to resolve differences in July. But in August, India put on hold de- fence exchanges with Beijing that were started with the aim of eliminating the deep-seated mistrust between the armies of the two countries as Chinese authorities refused to grant a visa to a senior Indian army offi- cer in charge of Kashmir.

Sujit Dutta, an expert on Chi- na, noted that India-China rela- tions were becoming “more and more complex“ and “not con- ducive to maintaining a happy engagement.“

“No doubt, this has to be seen in the context of an increasingly assertive China,“ said Dutta, a professor at Jamia Millia Isla- mia. “This assertiveness is being felt by most of China's neigh- bours, barring Russia and Pakis- tan,“ he said, referring to wor- ries expressed by several South- East Asian countries about Chi- na flexing its military and diplo- matic muscle.

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