Ever since the visit of the Chinese premier in Nyingchi, the border town in Tibet less than 20 km from Arunachal Pradesh around two weeks ago that involved a three and a half hour ride by the newly launched high-speed train from Lhasa, there were serious discussions in the defence fraternity in India which centered around the tricky question-what’s the actual purpose of this massively-financed project. The consensus is that it’s military alone and among the many defence-related endeavours China has been pursuing recently, in terms of scale and strategic significance, the 435 km long Lhasa-Nyingchi railway line will count as the top one. Expectedly, it hasn’t taken too long to get the intention revealed and it’s only after a ‘disclosure’ by the state controlled Chinese media it has come to light now that a military transportation exercise has been conducted by the PLA. In terms of possession of strategic military infra assets which even though may be of supplementary in nature to the actual arsenals, it must be said that with this high-speed communication link-up, China has taken the lead against India, at least by a couple of goals. What needs to be done to restore parity at least is the prerogative of India’s defence establishment. However, it must be the earnest longing of any citizen in the country, particularly in Arunachal Pradesh that counter-measures are taken up fast.
When it comes to relationship with India, time and again through actions and claims, China has proved it’s a rogue nation and still cultivates the expansionist vision prevalent in medieval ages. How tactfully it has kept the ‘Arunachal Pradesh is South Tibet’ claim alive to pinch India occasionally and now that the technological marvel has come up, the stage is set when it can shower ‘punches’ as well. It’s a telling contrast with India when it comes to building infrastructure, overcoming all odds posed by nature with hardly any project deadline failure or cost overrun. As per reports, the said bullet train can travel with speeds ranging from 160 -360 kms per hour and the fully electrified railway line passes through 47 tunnels, 121 bridges and crosses Brahmaputra river (Yarlung Zangbo in Chinese) 16 times. It’s unbelievable but true- the project wherein tunnels and bridges comprise around 75 % of total railway track and more than 90% of which are constructed at an altitude of 3000 mtr, has been completed in less than six and a half years.
However mind-boggling it may be, India is left with no option but to emulate the feat and it must essentially be in Arunachal Pradesh entirely due to strategic compulsions. China means ‘business’ and to keep the nation’s territorial integrity intact, India must act sharp. 

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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