Months after the 73-day-long military standoff between Indian and Chinese troops at Doklam, Beijing is now building a full-fledged military complex within the disputed region that Bhutan claims at its own.
The latest satellite images accessed by India TV show that the Chinese military has prepared as many as seven helipads, along with concrete posts, trenches and dozens of armoured vehicles. One of the images shows Chinese structure just 81 metres away from the Indian post of Doka la in Sikkim.
While the image, taken earlier, shows two helipads – clearly demarcated by an H marking – in the disputed region, sources claim that the Chinese troops have built at least seven helipads in the area.
Moreover, the road being built by the Chinese military is approximately 10 km to the east of the Indian position in Sikkim.
The images also show the presence of military tanks, tank-carrying vehicles, artillery and other military equipment in the area.
A day after intelligence satellite inputs showed a troop build-up in Doklam, Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said that a number of Chinese troops are still present at Doklam.
“As far as Doklam is concerned, PLA (People’s Liberation Army) soldiers are there in a part of the area although not in numbers that we saw them in initially. They have carried out some infrastructure development which is mostly temporary in nature,” Rawat said in New Delhi.
The revelation comes three days after Rawat's admission during his Army Day press conference in New Delhi, that though the Chinese have retracted from Doklam, the troops are there in northern Doklam area.
