India-China LAC Tensions: Infrastructure and Strategic Asymmetries
China's rapid infrastructure development along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), including dual-use airports and the proposed Yarlung Tsangpo super dam, has created strategic asymmetries that compel India to accelerate its own border infrastructure. The 2020 Galwan clash ended decades of no-fire protocols and led to permanent high-altitude troop deployments. China employs "salami slicing" tactics—incremental territorial gains too small to trigger war—and uses non-military actions like renaming places in Arunachal Pradesh to fabricate administrative legitimacy. India has inaugurated over 350 infrastructure projects capable of carrying T-90 Bhishma tanks at high-altitude passes between 2023 and 2025 and sanctioned seven new ITBP battalions with 94 border outposts. The baseline divide centers on China treating its 1962 war gains as legitimized control while India insists on restoring pre-1962 status quo.
Try the question
What does "salami slicing" refer to in the context of China's approach to the LAC?
Answer: (b) Incremental territorial gains too small to trigger war but cumulatively significant
The correct answer is (b) Incremental territorial gains too small to trigger war but cumulatively significant.