Infrastructure first, PLA later

NEW DELHI: Even as New Delhi views the latest Chinese incursions across the Line of Actual Control (LAC) as an attempt by its troops to ���provoke��� India into retaliatory action, the government has decided to focus its energies on aggressively pushing development projects on its side of the border.

A meeting of the China study group convened by National Security Advisor M K Narayanan here on Thursday is expected to take stock of the recent cross-border misadventures by Chinese troops and discuss an appropriate response to the same.

Though MEA is keen on playing down the incursions as ���routine attempt��� by Chinese Army to make its presence felt by leaving behind tell-tale signs of its ventures into Indian territory, a section of the security establishment is getting restless over such a response as it strongly feels that ignoring frequent incursions into its territory would only embolden the neighbour into getting more aggressive.

The meeting ��� to be attended by the Cabinet Secretary and secretaries of home, defence and external affairs, besides Army and intelligence brass ��� will discuss these divergent views and try to evolve a consensus on how India must deal with the Chinese incursions.

According to intelligence sources, the degree of difference between the attitudes of the political leadership in China and PLA would be raised at Thursday���s meeting. There is a view that while PLA is keen on pushing things aggressively to settle the border disputes with India, the Chinese political leadership is soft and does not favour a skirmish. The possibility of PLA working independently of the political leadership will also be examined at the meeting to be presided over by the National Security Advisor.

For now, the dominant view in the government is to continue sorting out the border row with China through negotiations. This stems from the realisation that any military solution would be suicidal as the impressive infrastructure and roads in place on the Chinese side give its Army a clear tactical advantage in the event of a hostility.

While the neighbour would have ready defence structures, Indian troops will be handicapped by inadequate infrastructure and road linkages on its side of the border.

Hence, the practical approach before the government is to not get provoked by the border misadventures by the Chinese and instead give an aggressive push to the border roads and development works on Indian side of the LAC. The government had recently decided to mobilise funds internally for a major irrigation project in Arunachal Pradesh after China opposed ADB funding for the same.

According to MHA, work is in progress on 10 border roads adjacent to China, with a total length of 196 kilometres. 40.08 km of formation works and 5.40 km of surfacing works have been completed.

Incursions by Chinese troops across LAC into Indian territory are part of the neighbour���s strategy to assert its ���presence and hold���. Chinese troops make it a point to venture every now and then into Indian areas to underline their ���disputed��� nature and assert that India cannot outdo or ignore China.

The frequency of such incursions, according to a senior intelligence official, increases whenever a high-level meeting takes place, a foreign dignitary visits the neighbourhood or an Indian VIP tours areas such as Arunachal Pradesh.

But, even as it remains Chinese Army���s intention to ���provoke��� us by indulging in border misadventures, India has consistently resisted any strong reaction and taken the liberal view favouring only negotiations for resolution of the Sino-Indian border row.