According to new satellite images that emerged on Tuesday (July 20),  it seems that there has been a construction of a Chinese village East of the Doklam plateau on the Bhutanese side, a region that is considered important for India's strategic interest. The Indian and Chinese armies were locked in a 73-day stand-off at the Doklam tri-junction after China tried to extend a road in the area that Bhutan claimed belonged to it.


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Images captured by MAXAR, a company that focuses on space technology and intelligence, were issued by NDTV. The reports said the village is fully inhabited with cars parked at the doorstep of virtually every home. It said alongside the village is a neatly marked all-weather carriageway, which is part of China's "extensive land grab" in Bhutan.


The road could give China access to a strategic ridge in the Doklam plateau. There was no immediate comment from the Army on the new images. "The new satellite images, sourced from Maxar, indicate that a second village in the Amo Chu river valley is now virtually complete while China has stepped up construction of a third village or habitation further South," the NDTV said in its report. This development also means China would have a direct line-of-sight to India's sensitive Siliguri corridor, the narrow sliver of land that connects the northeast states with the rest of the country, reported NDTV. 


The government had said previously that it keeps an eye on all the activities along its border. China has been ramping up border infrastructure in several sensitive locations, including along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh where the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) has been locked in an over two-year standoff with the Indian Army.


(With Agency inputs)