Line of Actual Control (LAC) : India & Tibet Border Updates

 
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China-airport.jpeg

Taxkorgar/Tashkurgar (Xinjiang), 200km+ from Gilgit, a new airport
(theprint, may22)

China commences test flights at 1st ‘super-high plateau airport' in Xinjiang​

New Delhi: At a height of 3,250 metres above sea level, China commenced test flights at what it claims to be Xinjiang region’s “first super-high plateau airport” in Taxkorgan, the country’s state media reported.

Xinjiang has been under the international radar for human rights violations with China being accused of committing possible genocide against the Uyghur population and other mostly-Muslim ethnic groups in the region.
The test flights began with the landing of an Airbus A319-115 aircraft at Taxkorgan airport at 9 am Wednesday, Xinhua news service reported. Another Chinese media outlet, People’s Daily, shared an image of the aircraft that had landed at the airport, situated on the Pamir Plateau.
According to the Xinhua report, any airport located at a height of 2,438 metres above sea level, or more, is considered a “super-high plateau” airport.

“Equipped with a 3,800-metre runway, the airport is designed to handle an annual throughput of 160,000 passengers and 400 tonnes of cargo and mail,” the report added.

Strategic significance

As China showcases the readiness of the airport by announcing the commencement of test flights, along with its upcoming opening in July — all these not only represent a first-of-its-kind construction for China but also points to a milestone of strategic significance.

According to the Chinese news site Seetao, the airport’s construction began on 26 April 2020 amid the Covid pandemic. It marked the breaking ground of a 1.63 billion yuan investment by the Chinese government, as part of its thirteenth Five-Year Plan.
Throughout the construction period, Xinhua news kept providing updates on the progress, once in June 2020 and then again in August last year.
Located on the Karakoram Highway, Taxkurgan lies east of China’s border with Tajikistan and a little over 200 km north of Gilgit, the capital of the Gilgit-Baltistan province in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Given the region’s close proximity to Gilgit-Baltistan, Taxkorgan Airport is also said to form part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)’s “series of infrastructure developments”.
When China first announced the plans to build the airport in April 2015, then-Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Jianchao downplayed concerns flagged by India, stating that the airport plan and overall CPEC project “does not concern the relevant dispute between India and Pakistan”.
“Taxkorgan has assumed more importance following China’s $46-billion economic corridor linking Kashgar in Xinjiang, through Taxkorgan and across into the PoK all the way to the Gwadar port on the coast of the Arabian Sea. The corridor envisages road, rail links as well as pipelines which provide a direct source for oil import for China from West Asia and the Arabian Sea,” India Today had reported about the city in April 2015.
According to the director of the think tank Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy (AIES), Velina Tchakarova, the Taxkorgan airport represents “a significant long term investment” for China.

“The construction of Taxkorgan Airport on the Pamir Plateau in the northwestern Uighur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang is a significant long-term investment, as Taxkorgan is “China’s only county-level city bordering three countries—Tajikistan, Pakistan, and Afghanistan,”” Tchakarova wrote in an opinion piece for think tank, Observer Research Foundation, citing a report from Chinese TV news network CGTN.

the airport is "on" the Karakoram Highway, and very close to a-stan, and Tadjik Pamirs where chinese companies are mining.
i've read that the chinese are mining in Gi-Ba too: gold, uranium, and molybdenum, uranium(?)
But no doubt that airport too is for "dual" use (watching the airstrip at 0:02):

meanwhile in GBAO, for the first time since Tajikistan's independence, an aircraft (an L- 410ng, capable of carrying up to 19 passengers) is assigned to Khorog airport (capital of Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast)
After 30 years, GBAO has its first aircraft

The Czech-made L410NG aircraft performed its test flight and landed at the airport in Khorog today, February 28.

The ceremony attended by Mirzonabot Alisher Khudoberdi, chairman of Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast, Nazarzoda Rizo Shodi, mayor of Khorugh and other officials, the official page of GBAO administration reported.

The flights between Dushanbe and Khorog will be fully reopened after the aircraft is purchased, the officials said.

The L-410NG aircraft can carry 19 passengers and is certified by the European Aviation Safety Agency.

It is the first aircraft transferred from the centre for the autonomous region in thirty years of independence. In the past, the Tajik authorities rejected repeated attempts by investors to build an international airport in GBAO. The Aga Khan Foundation's project to build an international airport in Ishkashim District remains unrealised.

The transfer of the aircraft to the region is taking place against a backdrop of ongoing ethnical repression against the population of GBAO. Since 2012, some 80 natives of the region have been extrajudicially executed. According to various sources, more than two thousand have been sentenced to long terms of imprisonment.
 
If hellfire thinks we're going to reclaim our lost territories from China when they're busy with Taiwan , then he's even more optimistic than you know who . But a lot can happen between now & 2030. Who knows , China may in their hubris open up 2 fronts or initiate against India before Taiwan . Alternatively if things are going badly for China , the US + allies may well pressurise India to open up a front which'd be too tempting for us to refuse.

Possibilities exist ... endless possibilities.

As an aside I don't foresee a problem of Paxtan either way. If their economy continues it's downward trajectory, it'd have no choice but to remain beholden to the US . But if the last scenario I've conceived plays out , they'd be under no obligation to come to China's aid .

Even otherwise I'd advocate keeping just enough assets on the western border to fight a defensive war. If in the bargain we lose some territory in the west , I'd welcome it . After China's sorted out we make war preparations against Paxtan with the loss of territory serving as a casus belli . Time to finish off the problem on the western front once & for all .

We'd have civilizational issues to confront from 2050 onwards. Paxtan would then be an existential threat if it survives that far into the future or even otherwise. We need to sort out both China & Paxtan before that . Let's hope between now & 2030 EU is permanently damaged economically by the US on one side & Russia on the other with China capitalising on it. Similarly when the US & China clash let's hope the US emerges in the same state as UK & France did post WW-2 with China emulating post war Germany . We need all these entities to be sorted out else we'd be in an existential crisis post 2050 with no solution except disintegration. Fortunately , there are alternatives to oil which was unthinkable even a decade ago which renders the Gulf states irrelevant then .

Coming back to the topic , Taiwan has to hold out for 2 weeks which is exactly the amount of time the US'd take to mobilise along with Japan to enter the fray. In the meanwhile you'd see the US + allies initiate a lot of sessions in the UNSC & UNGA to pillory China , get it to withdraw & build up support besides getting moral pole position ( pun unintended ) before it moves decisively in the Pacific .
 
If hellfire thinks we're going to reclaim our lost territories from China when they're busy with Taiwan , then he's even more optimistic than you know who . But a lot can happen between now & 2030. Who knows , China may in their hubris open up 2 fronts or initiate against India before Taiwan . Alternatively if things are going badly for China , the US + allies may well pressurise India to open up a front which'd be too tempting for us to refuse.

Possibilities exist ... endless possibilities.

As an aside I don't foresee a problem of Paxtan either way. If their economy continues it's downward trajectory, it'd have no choice but to remain beholden to the US . But if the last scenario I've conceived plays out , they'd be under no obligation to come to China's aid .

Even otherwise I'd advocate keeping just enough assets on the western border to fight a defensive war. If in the bargain we lose some territory in the west , I'd welcome it . After China's sorted out we make war preparations against Paxtan with the loss of territory serving as a casus belli . Time to finish off the problem on the western front once & for all .

We'd have civilizational issues to confront from 2050 onwards. Paxtan would then be an existential threat if it survives that far into the future or even otherwise. We need to sort out both China & Paxtan before that . Let's hope between now & 2030 EU is permanently damaged economically by the US on one side & Russia on the other with China capitalising on it. Similarly when the US & China clash let's hope the US emerges in the same state as UK & France did post WW-2 with China emulating post war Germany . We need all these entities to be sorted out else we'd be in an existential crisis post 2050 with no solution except disintegration. Fortunately , there are alternatives to oil which was unthinkable even a decade ago which renders the Gulf states irrelevant then .

Coming back to the topic , Taiwan has to hold out for 2 weeks which is exactly the amount of time the US'd take to mobilise along with Japan to enter the fray. In the meanwhile you'd see the US + allies initiate a lot of sessions in the UNSC & UNGA to pillory China , get it to withdraw & build up support besides getting moral pole position ( pun unintended ) before it moves decisively in the Pacific .
We aren't invading mainland China anytime soon. What happened in Galwan will continue to be the Status Quo. Atleast that's what the GoI hopes.
 
We aren't invading mainland China anytime soon. What happened in Galwan will continue to be the Status Quo. Atleast that's what the GoI hopes.
China will attack India for sure. They have been preparing for last 3 years for a reason. Plus their economy is in pretty bad shape and they need a distraction without much loss and India perfectly fits the bill.
 
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China will attack India for sure. They have been preparing for last 3 years for a reason. Plus their economy is in pretty bad shape and they need a distraction without much loss and India perfectly fits the bill.
2024 is going to be spicy.
 
I would pray for no war. Even if we give a befitting reply, the causality numbers will be huge.
True, war is always ugly. But Indian population can take losses to protect our land, can the Chinese?
I hope we have counter invasion plans otherwise nothing's changing.
I think any attack on India would mean India counter attacking and trying to liberate Tibet. Kailash Mansarover belongs to India being our pious/sacred place.

Attack on India would prove very costly for China. This isn't India of Nehru but India of Modi.
 
True, war is always ugly. But Indian population can take losses to protect our land, can the Chinese?

I think any attack on India would mean India counter attacking and trying to liberate Tibet. Kailash Mansarover belongs to India being our pious/sacred place.

Attack on India would prove very costly for China. This isn't India of Nehru but India of Modi.
And Modi certainly didn’t prepare well for any long war. BTW, I’m a hardcore supporter of Modi. But in this case, he is simply trying his luck.
 
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