China opens new expressway in Tibet, close to Arunachal border

Lhasa, October 2

China has opened a 409-km toll-free new expressway linking Lhasa and Nyingchi, the two major cities and tourist attractions in the Tibet Autonomous Region.

Nyingchi is close to the Arunachal Pradesh border.

Costing about $5.8 billion, the expressway cuts Lhasa-Nyingchi travel time from eight to five hours at a speed limit of 80 km per hour, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Heavy trucks are temporarily banned from using the Lhasa- Nyingchi expressway, Xinhua news agency added. The India-China border covering the 3,488 km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC) is deputed.

Notably, China claims Arunachal Pradesh as South Tibet, whereas India asserts that the dispute covers the Aksai Chin area, which was occupied by China during the 1962 war. The two sides have so far held several rounds of talks with Special Representatives, including a stand-off in the Doklam area, to resolve the boundary dispute. —ANI