WSJ: India fortifies Himalayan frontiers against China

India is investing hundreds of millions of dollars in constructing roads, tunnels, and landing strips throughout the Himalayas as it prepares for potential future clashes with China. The initiative follows the deadly 2020 border standoff, which exposed critical logistical vulnerabilities along the 2,200-mile disputed boundary, known as the Line of Actual Control, The Wall Street Journal reports.

While China has for decades developed an extensive network of railways and roads along its border regions, India had lagged in building infrastructure necessary for rapid troop deployment in its mountainous frontier areas. During the 2020 clash, soldiers at 14,000 feet engaged in hand-to-hand combat using batons and clubs wrapped in barbed wire. Analysts note that China could have reinforced its positions within hours, whereas India would have required up to a week to move additional troops along the region’s rough or nonexistent roads.

“It was a dramatic shift in thinking,” said Major General Amrit Pal Singh, former chief of operational logistics in Ladakh, home to some of the most sensitive stretches of India’s border with China. “We realized we needed to change our total approach.”

Some of the projects aim to connect high-altitude military outposts with isolated civilian settlements, particularly those cut off during harsh winters. Among the most ambitious is the Zojila Tunnel, carved into the mountains of northern India at roughly 11,500 feet. Work on the more than $750 million tunnel began shortly after the 2020 border clash. The nine-mile project, expected to be completed in about two years, will simplify the formidable task of supplying border outposts in Ladakh, which can be cut off for up to six months annually due to heavy snowfall, according to Lt. Gen. Deependra Singh Hooda, former commander of India’s Northern Command.

Currently, supplies travel by truck or train to depots in neighboring Jammu and Kashmir before convoys transport them to Leh, Ladakh’s capital. From there, smaller vehicles traverse rough terrain, and porters and mules carry essential provisions up to 20,000 feet above sea level. “It’s a massive, massive logistical exercise undertaken regularly every year,” Hooda said. Each soldier requires about 220 pounds of supplies per month, including food, clothing, and essentials such as toothpaste. A typical outpost for 30 soldiers, with sentry points and barracks, consumes roughly 13 gallons of fuel per day.

The Zojila Tunnel will reduce travel time by several hours and enable year-round supply movement. Over 1,000 construction workers labor in extreme conditions, where temperatures can drop to minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit. A key engineering challenge is maintaining adequate ventilation for both workers and, eventually, diesel-powered army trucks.

Tensions persist around Pangong Tso Lake, which straddles the border and has been the site of multiple clashes between Indian and Chinese troops. Following the 2020 Galwan Valley conflict, both countries accelerated construction of roads and buildings in the region. Beijing, for instance, completed a bridge linking the north and south banks of the lake last year, enabling troops to cross directly instead of taking longer routes around the lake, according to Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, resident senior fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

By Vafa Guliyeva