China's Shaksgam Build-up: A New Siachen Threat for India Beyond Pakistan

• Professor Kondapalli highlights a strategic shift, with China's infrastructure development in Shaksgam Valley posing a new threat to India's Siachen Glacier defenses, traditionally focused on Pakistan.
• China is developing an approach to Siachen from its side, unlike India's previous assumption of threats only from Pakistan, creating an unprepared contingency for India.
• The Karakoram Highway, originally built in 1986, has been expanded under CPEC to 40 meters wide, potentially allowing aircraft landings and rapid military deployment, transforming it into a military artery.
• Uncertainty surrounds the 36,000 personnel deployed in CPEC projects in Shaksgam, raising concerns whether they are workers or troops, blurring civilian and military lines.
• China's development of underground defense networks and forward positioning in Shaksgam allows it to outflank India's Siachen deployments from the north, potentially leading to new territorial claims.

Why It Matters: China's infrastructure development in Shaksgam Valley creates a new, unprecedented Siachen threat for India.