New Delhi
Amid tensions with China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), IAF's Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari said the Chinese Air Force has still deployed three airbases facing eastern Ladakh.
India and China were involved in a standoff along the LAC last year as clashes between PLA soldiers and Indian troops in Galwan Valley led to casualties on both sides. India lost 20 Indian soldiers in the clashes and China admitted that four of its soldiers were killed. However, reports claimed the Chinese casualties were much higher.
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Chaudhari said China had built aircraft shelters in Tibet while asserting that the Indian Air Force was capable of tackling the "two-front threat" namely with China and Pakistan.
India's air chief marshal said although disengagement talks are underway with China but the PLA's infrastructure development along the LAC is carrying on "at a very high rate".
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India's Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat had said earlier that the disengagement process with China was slow due to "suspicion on both sides".
Chinese troops had recently conducted high altitude exercises in Tibet conducting night and day operations with the latest equipment. PLA had also conducted operation "Snowfield Duty-2021" military exercise in the Tibet plateau region involved live ammunition drills and used anti-aircraft batteries including Type 15 light tanks.
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Reports had said earlier that China had deployed modular container-based accommodations in the high altitude regions in eastern Ladakh.
Chinese state media had earlier reported that authorities were building 30 airports in Tibet and Xinjiang provinces. China has already started a bullet train connecting Lhasa with Nyingchi which is close to Arunachal Pradesh.
(With inputs from Agencies)