India earlier this month inaugurated a high-altitude airbase near its disputed border with China, prompting analysts to suggest that the development capped long-term efforts to upgrade infrastructure there rather than posing a threat to Beijing.
According to reports from multiple media outlets, the Mudh-Nyoma Air Force Station is perched at a height of about 13,700 feet (4,176 metres) and is only 30km (19 miles) from the Line of Actual Control, the de facto boundary separating India and China.
On November 13, India’s chief of the air staff, Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh, stated that a C-130J transport aircraft had landed at the base, reportedly the Indian Air Force’s first public acknowledgement of such a landing at the Mudh-Nyoma station.
Despite the airbase’s clear strategic significance, analysts said Beijing was more likely to view it as part of New Delhi’s long-term efforts to upgrade its border infrastructure rather than representing a direct confrontation.
As both sides strive to maintain a peaceful shared border and keep ties cordial, analysts also believe the airbase is unlikely to derail the course of rapprochement, with China still holding a substantial advantage in infrastructure in the area.
He Xianqing, an associate research fellow at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies in China’s southern Hainan province, said the Indian airbase carried significant strategic weight and boosted New Delhi’s “aerial patrol capability” in the disputed region.