Satellite Expert Confirms Completion of China’s Controversial Pangong Tso Bridge
By Tsering Choephel
DHARAMSALA, 23 July: China’s construction of a bridge across Pangong Tso (Lake) is completed, as seen in the latest satellite images shared by satellite imagery expert Damien Symon yesterday on X(formerly Twitter)
Symon, who has shared several other satellite images of China’s construction activities across the Line of Actual Control (LAC), described the latest image, saying, “The new bridge is nearly ready, with its surface recently asphalted (blacktopped). The bridge boosts the Chinese forces’ mobility in the area, providing quicker access to conflict zones and Indian positions around the lake.”
The first report of China’s bridge building at the site came in late 2021, which followed the conflicts between Indian and Chinese soldiers in the Pangong Lake area in May 2020 and subsequently a clash in June 2020.
Pangong Lake, at 4,350m altitude, extends to almost 160 km, with one-third of the lake in Indian territory while the other two-thirds are in China-occupied Tibet. The bridge connects Khurnak at the north bank of the lake to the south bank through Ruthog county in Tibet, according to a report by The Print yesterday.
Cutting down a 180km loop from north to south banks, the bridge reportedly will give “the Chinese the capability to bring heavier war-fighting equipment to the finger areas in the northern bank of Pangong Tso.”
India claims that the bridge is only 25km from Sirijap, which lies just east of the Finger 8 areas along the LAC that India claims as its own, as per a swarajyamag.com report.