Statement of the Ministry of External Affairs on the construction of China’s bridge on Pangong Lake

On reports of China building a bridge in the Pangong Lake area in eastern Ladakh, India on Thursday said that the government is closely monitoring this activity. The Foreign Ministry on Thursday took strong objection to China’s illegal construction of a bridge over Pangong Lake, saying the government was closely monitoring the entire situation. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, while speaking on reports about a bridge being built by the neighboring country on the Chinese side of Pangong Lake, said, the government is closely monitoring this activity.

The bridge is being constructed in areas which have been under illegal Chinese occupation for almost 60 years. As you are well aware, India has never accepted such illegal occupation. Bagchi said that the government is taking all necessary steps to ensure that our security interests are fully protected. He said that as part of these efforts, the government has significantly increased the budget for border infrastructure development during the last seven years and completed more roads and bridges than ever before.

These have provided much needed connectivity to the local population as well as the armed forces, Bagchi said. The government is committed to this objective. It has been found that China has been building the bridge connecting the northern and southern banks of Pangong Lake for at least two months. The bridge will help the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to gain quick access to both sides. India captured key heights on the Kailash range on the southern coast in August 2020, giving our troops a strategic advantage.

However, with the withdrawal of troops at Pangong in February last year, India withdrew from those heights as part of a mutual pullback plan to defuse tensions. In addition, China enacted its new border law on January 1, which calls for strengthening its border security and developing infrastructure in villages and near borders. Just before the law came into force, China changed the names of 15 places in Arunachal Pradesh in its map.