Online attack against India: China threatens action in Arunachal through Twitter

New Delhi: Chinese entities have launched an online offence against India, with a social media campaign that threatens military action in Arunachal Pradesh. Various verified and unverified handles on social media have been releasing undated videos and photos of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops on the Indian border.

According to a report, even though Twitter is banned in China, the platform has been flooded with images and information on PLA troops posted at the Indian border that has prompted the Indian authorities to issue high alert on both the Ladakh and Arunachal borders. In the past few months too, after China conducted large-scale exercises in Tibet, the troops have been vigilant. Intelligence inputs on Chinese intentions on the border are also being received and processed, including one as recent as last week.

Since there had been a large volume of Twitter posts, the Indian authorities have been monitoring them, especially after Pentagon warned them that "China has been taking incremental action to press its boundary claims and has constructed a 100-house village in disputed territory on the Arunachal border."

According to an IANS report, China has likely considered a number of countries including Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Seychelles as locations for People's Liberation Army (PLA) facilities too. China is seeking to establish a more robust overseas logistics and basing infrastructure to allow the PLA to project and sustain military power at greater distances.

Only indigenously developed technologies will be available to the Indian Army for full exploitation during conflicts and it is imperative to reduce dependence on foreign technologies, Army Chief General M M Naravane said on Monday.

The Indian Army is undergoing rapid modernisation and it is increasingly looking for indigenous solutions for its operational needs, he said in his speech at an event of industry body FICCI. "I truly believe that during conflicts, in war-like situations, only indigenously developed technologies will be available to us for full exploitation across diverse domains," he stated. Developing indigenous and local capabilities to confront emerging security challenges and reduce dependence on foreign technologies is, therefore, an imperative, Naravane mentioned. "The Army in particular is more suited to lead this initiative. India has an expanding industrial base and we are confident that most of core requirements of defence equipment can be realised in-house," he noted. The average cost of acquisition is lower in the Indian Army that allows wide participation of MSMEs and start-ups, he said. The government's initiative of Atmanirbhar Bharat (Self-Reliant India) during an economic downturn as given much needed fillip to the domestic industry, he said.