Sightseeing at the border of two simmering nuclear powers
Tensions remain elevated and mutual suspicions run deep. As India continues gradually to expand its transport infrastructure, so China will perceive the strategic balance to be changing against it.
It was minus 15 degrees Celsius as the long night was ending, when we set out from the ancient Silk Road logistics and market hub of Leh, in India’s northern Ladakh province. Ahead was a nine-hour return journey to the edge of military conflict between India and China.
The Ladakh/Tibet area is one of the most heavily militarised regions along the entire India-China border. The presence of the respective armies has been ramped up considerably since June 2020, when a melee occurred in the Gwadar Valley near Lake Pangong, resulting in some 20 Indian deaths and four Chinese, according to each side’s official statements. Global attention has since been directed to this most remote, high-altitude region as where a Sino-Indian war would start.
Geoff RabyColumnistGeoff Raby was Australia’s ambassador to China, 2007-2011. His book Great Game On: the contest for Central Asia and Global Supremacy will be published in November by Melbourne University Press.
