At a time when both India and China are further fortifying their military presence along the disputed Line of Actual Control, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to review the situation on the border with China during her visit to Arunachal Pradesh later this week.

Arunachal Pradesh visit

The defence minister’s first visit to Arunachal Pradesh comes at a time when last month both India and China backed off from Doklam where Indian Army stopped Chinese People’s Liberation Army from constructing a motorable road in Bhutanese territory near India’s narrow Chicken’s neck corridor in West Bengal.

“Defence minister will be accompanied by Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat for her visit to Arunachal Pradesh later this week,” a source in the army told Mail Today.

Sitharaman is also likely to visit the forward areas and army posts to understand the issues faced by the troops deployed there, sources said.

The Army likely to brief the minister about its preparations to prevent China’s attempts to carry out incursion into the Indian territory in places where the boundary not demarcated and both sides have different claim lines.

In Doklam too, the Armies of both countries have not backed out completely and separated from each other by a distance of around 300 metre. Both have the capability to rush in more troops at a very short notice with reports suggesting that China has moved tank regiments in the nearby areas.

China had protested the visit of PM Narendra Modi in 2015 and also raised objections over the visit of defence ministers there. In less than a month, Sitharaman has visited almost all active frontiers of the armed forces.