Amid border row with India, China holds military drill in Tibet

Beijing, July 17

Amid the continuing border stand-off with India, China has conducted a live-fire drill in Tibet.

According to a CCTV report, live-fire drills included the quick delivery of troops and different military units working together on joint attacks.

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The report did not mention when the exercise was held.

An online video showed the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers using anti-tank grenades and missiles against bunkers and howitzers for artillery coverage.

The brigade that conducted the drills was from the PLA’s Tibet Military Command and is one of China’s two plateau mountain brigades, the Global Times said.

According to the CCTV report, the brigade has long been stationed around the middle and lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo river and is responsible for frontline combat missions.

The river is located in the upper stream of the Brahmaputra, which flows through China, India and Bangladesh.

The video also shows radar units identifying enemy aircraft and soldiers using anti-aircraft artillery to annihilate targets.

The drills lasted 11 hours, Chinese news portal guancha.cn reported.

India shares a long border with China’s Tibetan region. India and China have been locked for over a month in a border stand-off between their soldiers in a tri-junction also involving Bhutan. 

Separately, Tibet’s mobile communication agency conducted a drill on July 10 in Lhasa, capital of Tibet, where members practiced setting up a temporary mobile network to secure communications in an emergency, the Global Times reported. — IANS