Chinese entities have upped the ante against India and threatened military action in Arunachal Pradesh through a flurry of posts on Twitter. The aggressive social media campaign comes on the heels of a recent report by the Pentagon that claimed that China has built a 100-home civilian village in the disputed territory in Arunachal Pradesh, according to reports.
Though Twitter is banned in China, the social media platform has recently been flooded with undated videos, images and information from verified as well as unverified accounts about China’s People's Liberation Army (PLA) near Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh border areas, the Economic Times reported.
The development comes two days after the
US department of defense report was released. Following the report, a Twitter post claimed the Chinese military has advanced to the Tawang border in
Arunachal Pradesh with the intent of taking control of the Dongzhang waterfall.
Another Twitter post by a verified Chinese state media-affiliated account was about the 2020 Galwan Valley clash in Ladakh, one of the worst border-area clashes in 45 years. The Pentagon report blamed
China for the series of confrontations in 2020 that culminated into the violent clash in which at least 20 Indian soldiers and an unknown number of Chinese troops were killed.
While the Indian army has not released any image or information about the clash, Chinese social media accounts have in the past posted images and videos and claimed them to be of the Galwan incident.
A third post showed Chinese long-range PCL 191 rockets stationed near the Daulat Beg Oldie region, which is close to the Depsang Plains in eastern Ladakh, a major friction point between the Indian and Chinese troops. The PLA has blocked Indian patrols at the Depsang plains for some time.
Another Twitter post shows a Chinese platoon at Hot Springs in Ladakh. As China keeps a strict vigil on information related to the PLA, the ET report suggests the posts seem to be backed by the Chinese army.
Military
talks between India and China have failed to resolve border-related issues in eastern Ladakh. The Chinese army did not agree to pull back troops from friction sites in Gogra, Hot Springs and Demchok. They also refused to let the Indian army patrol the strategically-located Depsang Plains.
Since the failure of dialogue between the two sides, the Indian army has been on high alert in Ladakh and Arunachal border areas. China, on the other hand, has conducted large-scale exercises in Tibet and claims to conduct air exercises in the region in mid-December.
Meanwhile, a specialised engineering wing of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police has decided to construct roads and foot tracks along the Line of Actual Control to speed up connectivity among its posts in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh, PTI reported.
First Published: Nov 8, 2021 1:13 PM IST
