Did China build 70-km road Shaksgam Valley along disputed territory in Kashmir?

Several intelligence reports have claimed that China has built around 70 km of roads between September 2017 and February 2018. While there is no confirmation, the Central government is trying to ascertain the credibility and veracity of the reports, Hindustan Times reported.

The report says that the PMO has asked for an intelligence assessment detailing the reasons and military objectives that may have prompted China to build a road west of the strategic Karakoram pass in the Shaksgam Valley. “That this construction has happened in the winter months, when such activities are rarely undertaken, is significant. China watchers believe that the road is being built for high mountain climbing and tourism purposes, but India’s security agencies are wary of a simplistic explanation, say South Block officials There’s a fear that this could be part of the realignment of the Karakoram highway in order to keep the 1,300 km road linking Pakistan Punjab to Kashgar in Xinjiang snow-free throughout the year. The Karakoram highway is at the heart of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which India has objected to because it runs through Pakistan Occupied Kashmir,” the report added.

A DNA Edit said Pakistan administers that part of Kashmir. But, it is a disputed area. China is breezily announcing that its neutral position on Kashmir remains unchanged; it is only emphasizing on the economic aspect of the plan. If it is indeed neutral, then it should recognise the prevailing sensitivity of the case and put in abeyance any plans to include any part of Kashmir within the realms of CPEC. In the past, China has objected to developmental programmes in Arunachal Pradesh on the pretext that as per China, the border between India and China at that sector is not final. In reality, the state has been and will be an integral part of India.

The explicit purpose, repeatedly stated, is to bolster Pakistan’s and Afghanistan’s economies and the consequent economic amelioration of those countries. $57 billion has been earmarked for that purpose by China. Nevertheless, between the lines, scope for anti-Indian acts is discernible. In brazen disregard of Indian sensitivities, the CPEC passes through Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir (PoK). That territory is claimed by India. It is bound to object, till solution to the Kashmir dilemma is reached.