Sikkim stand-off: China not on war footing, says a security report

There has been no ‘unusual movement’ to indicate any mobilisation of Chinese troops in the last few months, says an assessment done by India’s security establishment in the wake of a month-long military standoff between the two countries.

This contradicts reports from China that claim there was a large-scale movement of military equipment into Tibet in late June.

India’s assessment says the standoff in Dokalam near Sikkim remains localised with no major troop movement to Lhasa from the Chinese hinterland, which is needed to escalate the confrontation into a war-like situation.

Sources said reports of Chinese Army exercises are out of context as these were carried out in June before the standoff started, and were at least 600 to 700 km away from the point of confrontation.

Since 2009, China has been conducting a trans-regional support operation — an annual exercise for movement of supplies and logistics, government sources said. Sources said videos of the Chinese Army firing their artillery guns are also old.

The standoff began following China’s efforts to build a road in the strategically important Dokalam area in Bhutan. 

From an Indian point of view, Chinese troops crossing the Tsangpo river (Brahmaputra in India) is an alarm, but till now there has been no troop movement suggesting this, sources said.

The deployment under the western theatre command of the Chinese Army controlling border issues needs to be drastically increased for escalation or a war-like situation, says the assessment.