It had to be Yangtse. The Yangtse, which was blessed by Guru Rimpoche, also known as Padmasambhava, a professor at Nalanda University in the 8th century, who introduced Tantric Buddhism to Tibet. The Yangtse, with the famous Chumi Gyatse waterfall, also called the holy waterfall, revered by Buddhists on both sides of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) dividing India and China in Tawang, and where 108 water springs burst forth from spots where Rimpoche is said to have thrown his prayer beads. The Yangtse, where the grazing rights of the villagers were attempted to be resolved in the famous expedition of Sir Francis Younghusband in the first few years of the 20th century. And most importantly, the Yangtse was captured by the Indian Army in response to the Chinese intrusion in Sumdorong Chu in 1987-88.
Yangtse defied habitation for ages due to extreme terrain and weather. It is steeped in history, religion, politics, is crucial to military strategy, and is the most prominent among eight major flashpoints on the eastern LAC.
For the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), Yangtse is perhaps most sought after in the eastern sector. It is a massive plateau approximately 25 to 30 kms northeast of Tawang, with peaks ranging from 14,000 to 17,000 feet on one side and the holy waterfall at 11,000 feet on the other. In remote corners grow the famed Brahma Kamal and some rare varieties of rhododendron. It is also among the most picturesque regions in Arunachal Pradesh. A foothold on the Yangtse plateau affords a more advantageous tactical position to the PLA, which has already made an all-weather black top road on its side of the LAC in the valley below that is used by the military as well as tourists from Tibet and mainland China.
It is the grit of the Indian soldiers that helps them not only survive in the inhospitable terrain but also repeatedly thwart PLA attempts to transgress into this militarily critical sector.
After the 1962 battles in the Namka Chu and the Bum La areas of the Tawang sector, the border situation in the eastern LAC had stabilised. In 1986-87, the Chinese surreptitiously attempted the occupation of the Sumdorong Chu valley, which is juxtaposed between Bum La and Namka Chu (west of Yangtse). It took a heroic effort by the Indian Army in that era of inadequate roads and poor support structures to halt the advance of the Chinese army and maintain the sanctity of the line in the Namka Chu as well as in the Bum La areas. While the actions of the Indian Army on the west of Yangtse were in response to the aggressive Chinese designs, Yangtse was pre-emptively captured on the eastern flank of the Tawang sector to ensure a robust military position in the entire region and obviate future nefarious actions by the PLA.
The Yangtse’s importance is also due to the alternative path it affords for ingress into Tibet’s Tsethang sector. Having improved the road infrastructure in our border areas, the sensitivity of the Yangtse for the Chinese is increasing. The assessment of Indian commanders three decades ago was proved accurate when the Chinese started transgression attempts in the Yangtse a few years ago. The PLA is perhaps still smarting from the loss of the Yangtse in 1987-88 and the weakness imposed on their defensive deployment across the LAC. Combined with the Indian Army’s domineering position over the Sumdorong Chu and the Namka Chu valleys, the 1962 equations have, in effect, been reversed in the Tawang sector. The capability development and the infrastructural building on the Indian side have been phenomenal in the past few years, which, in turn, have substantially negated China’s advantageous position after 1962.
In Tawang, the PLA has been forced into a compromised position with a potential checkmate in clear sight. The PLA’s repeated efforts to seek dominating positions are perhaps a manifestation of this emerging reality and an acknowledgement of the fact that the Indian Army is confident of thwarting the nefarious designs of the adversary every time, a present-day truism on the LAC.
Lt Gen Shantanu Dayal, UYSM, AVSM, SM, VSM (retd) is a former deputy chief of Army staff who retired on October 31, 2022. He commanded the Gajraj Corps in 2020, with responsibility over the Tawang–Yangtse Sector, among others
The views expressed are personal
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