While clashes along contested areas of the China-India border have subsided, continuing tensions have prompted New Delhi to strengthen its defenses along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the de facto boundary between the world’s two most-populous nations.
Diplomatic discussions on the border dispute resumed in December 2024 after more than four years following an agreement in October on military disengagement and patrolling arrangements. However, disturbances along the nearly 3,500-kilometer LAC extend beyond military confrontations, with Beijing increasingly employing nontraditional tactics to assert its territorial claims, according to analysts.
From “salami slicing” that seeks to incrementally alter the territorial status quo to infrastructure expansion, the PRC’s assertiveness has intensified the long-term challenge facing India. Meanwhile, Beijing’s reported recruiting of youth from PRC-controlled Tibet for militia units capable of specialized warfare and its establishment of dual-use settlements in the region underscore the nature of its approach. Overall, analysts say, the PRC’s two-pronged strategy of dialogue and posturing continues to test India’s resolve along the fragile frontier.
“Disengagement has taken place at multiple points along the LAC, particularly the Depsang and Demchok areas in the western sector of the LAC,” in India’s mountainous Ladakh region, Prateek Joshi, a researcher at the International Centre for Peace Studies in New Delhi, told FORUM.
Chinese troops withdrew from those areas after the recent patrolling agreement. The Special Representatives Dialogue on LAC issues resumed in mid-December for the first time since a deadly clash between the nations’ forces in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley in mid-2020. The talks also covered issues such as cross-border trade and water sharing.
“While these developments are welcome, they are concerned with border management rather than addressing border disputes,” said Joshi, who recently conducted research along the LAC. “Two recent moves by China serve as potential spoilers.”
The PRC’s planned construction of what would be the world’s largest hydropower dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo River in Tibet has raised alarm in India, which depends heavily on the river it calls the Brahmaputra. Experts say the mega-dam could harm downstream communities and fragile landscapes in India and Bangladesh, while allowing Beijing to weaponize the river by restricting the water flow to India during droughts or releasing excess water to cause floods.
Also, New Delhi recently lodged a “solemn protest” with the PRC over its creation of two administrative counties in China’s Hotan prefecture, including one extending into the disputed Aksai Chin region, India’s The Hindu newspaper reported in early January 2025. The move appears to be an attempt to bolster Beijing’s territorial claims in the long-contested area.
“These developments — both along the LAC — point toward a standard policy where constructive dialogue is followed by an offensive posturing from the Chinese side,” Joshi said.
For years, the PRC has built dual-use villages in sensitive areas along the LAC, with residents reportedly including People’s Liberation Army troops and reservists, Joshi said. Initially concentrated in the LAC’s eastern sector, such activity has now been observed along the border’s central portions. According to recent satellite images, Beijing has resumed its salami-slicing tactics with construction projects around the disputed Pangong Lake, which straddles Ladakh and Tibet. Beijing initially deployed troops to the area in 2020.
Beijing also is deploying Tibetan militia squads that specialize in high-altitude warfare and surveillance, Joshi noted.
In response, India is bolstering its military preparedness, upgrading infrastructure and enhancing border connectivity, Joshi said. Key measures include accelerated construction of roads, bridges and landing fields, deployment of elite military units such as the Special Frontier Force and the Garud Commando Force, and development initiatives to support border communities.
New Delhi also has strengthened surveillance capabilities to monitor Chinese movements and detect incursions, Joshi said: “China’s dual approach of dialogue paired with offensive actions, such as infrastructure expansion and administrative claims, underscores the need for India to prepare for sustained strategic competition along the LAC.”
