Village along LAC in Arunachal Pradesh built by China in 1959: Official

New Delhi: The village built by China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Arunachal Pradesh sector which was mentioned in a Pentagon report last week, is in territory controlled by China, claimed sources in the security establishment on Tuesday.

"The village has been built by China in an area that was occupied by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) after overrunning an Assam Rifles post in 1959, in an operation known as Longju incident along the frontier in Arunachal Pradesh," sources said.

This is the latest example of "salami slicing" tactics adopted by China to slowly grab disputed land along LAC and claim it to be theirs.

The village along the disputed border in the upper Subansiri district is in the territory controlled by China. "They have, for years, maintained an Army post in the region and the various constructions undertaken by the Chinese have not happened in a short time," they added.

Last week a Pentagon report had said that China has continued taking incremental and tactical actions to press its claims at the LAC.

"Sometime in 2020, the People’s Republic of China built a large 100-home civilian village inside disputed territory between the PRC’s Tibet Autonomous Region and India’s Arunachal Pradesh state in the eastern sector of the LAC," said Pentagon's annual report to US Congress on military and security developments involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

China has built many model villages in uninhabited places along the LAC to claim these places as part of its territory.

These villages also act as frontier posts of China’s armed forces. Recently Chinese soldiers have been preventing Indian shepherds from grazing their animals at various places along the LAC while encouraging Chinese citizens to send their animals within Indian perception line to make new claims.

The Pentagon report said that these and other infrastructure development efforts along the India-China have been a source of consternation in the Indian government and media. "In contrast, PRC has attempted to blame India for provoking the standoff through India’s increased infrastructure development near the LAC," said the report.

 "PRC officials, through official statements and state media, had also sought unsuccessfully to prevent India from deepening its relationship with the United States during and subsequent to the standoff, while accusing India of being a mere “instrument” of US policy in the region," said the report.