“The brigade that conducted the (latest) drills was from the PLA’s Tibet military command and is one of China’s two plateau mountain brigades,” China Central Television (CCTV), the national broadcaster, said. The report is being seen as a message to the Indian government and military, as China claims large parts of Arunachal, India’s easternmost state, as southern Tibet. The Yarlung Zangbo enters India through Arunachal where it is called Siang before it becomes the Brahmaputra in Assam. Earlier, the Chinese military had announced it tested a light-weight battle tank in Tibet near the Indian border. “The 35-tonne tank has carried out trials in the plains of Tibet,” PLA spokesman Col Wu Qian had said in a media briefing.

Source: Hindustan Times July 17, 2017 04:41 UTC