India-China border needs more troops as frontier infrastructure expands, says Jaishankar

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar stated on Saturday that India's border with China has grown "more alive" and now needs a much bigger and steady commitment of troops. Speaking at the HT Leadership Summit, he pointed out that India has strengthened its military capabilities along the Line of Actual Control since the deadly Galwan Valley clashes in Eastern Ladakh in 2020. This comes as New Delhi and Beijing try to normalise ties after a four-year military standoff.

Border Infrastructure

Mr. Jaishankar highlighted that people now frequently hear about new tunnels, bridges, and airfields being built in the region. He noted that border infrastructure was neglected for decades until about ten years ago when the government finally gave it proper attention, resources, and policy push. Because of this ongoing work, India's ability to deploy troops on that border has improved in a very marked way.

Economic Asymmetry

Addressing the economic gap between India and China, Mr. Jaishankar recalled that when Rajiv Gandhi visited China, the two economies were of a similar size. He explained that China made a huge push for modernisation and industrialisation in the 1980s, while India missed that chance and later failed to carry reforms through sector by sector in the 1990s. To handle this economic gap today, he said India cannot follow the same track and must use leap-frogging by picking specific issues where it can make a big change rather than going toe-to-toe on everything.

Context

The Line of Actual Control serves as the effective border dividing Indian and Chinese-controlled areas. Relations between the two countries suffered a major blow following the 2020 Galwan Valley clash, but diplomatic efforts began to recover after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Kazan in October 2024.