New Delhi, April 30: The Chinese have demanded the de-activation of two forward airstrips of the Indian Air Force (IAF) in the region where their troops have crossed over and set up a tented camp in what India says is 19km inside its own territory.

Defence minister A.K. Antony today described the situation in eastern Ladakh as “not one of our creation” but said “we remain committed to a peaceful resolution of the situation, through military and diplomatic dialogue within the framework of the agreements for maintaining peace and tranquility”.

The strategic import of the Chinese “intrusion” was discussed in high-level meetings of the security establishment.

Antony, speaking at a scheduled “Unified Commanders Conference” of the military top brass, said “there should not be any doubt the country remains unanimous in its commitment to take every possible step, at all levels, to safeguard our interests”.

The minister was later briefed by national security adviser Shivshankar Menon, who heads the China Study Group, and the chiefs of the army, navy and the air force in a separate meeting.

In the deliberations on the import of the Chinese tented camp at Raki Nala, near Indian posts, there was a growing belief that Beijing’s troops had a grand design.

The Chinese military considers the re-activation of two advance landing grounds (ALGs) at Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) and Fukche a threat because it increases the capability of Indian forces to deploy faster and in greater numbers.

None of the two airstrips can be used through the year for landing and take-off by fixed-wing aircraft. But they are used by helicopters.

DBO, at nearly 16,500ft, is a remote post to which the road link is tenuous at best. But its strategic location gives IAF aircraft capability to take-off in the direction of both the Siachen Glacier — where Indian troops face the Pakistani Army — and towards the Karakoram and Aksai Chin where Chinese forces are deployed.

DBO is 80km from Siachen. The location of DBO also allows the launch of platforms (such as unmanned aerial vehicles) to keep a watch on the Karakoram pass and the Khunjerab pass through which the Karakoram Highway runs between China and Pakistan.

China has huge investments in the Gilgit-Baltistan area of Pakistani Kashmir that India claims and their military engineers are known to be working there.

The re-activation of DBO in May 2008 was a hush-hush affair by India. “I remember that none of our families and the families of the crew could be told where we were heading and we talked about it only after returning to Chandigarh,” Air Marshal P.K. Barbora (retired) told The Telegraph this evening.

He was the western air commander at the time and was in the first fixed-wing aircraft, an Antonov 32, to land at DBO in 43 years.

“I recall that the Chinese asked for a flag-meeting immediately and objected to the landing but it was a political decision of the government to activate our forward landing grounds and we were executing it,” said Barbora.

In November that year, the IAF also re-activated Fukche, several hundred kilometres to the southeast of DBO. Unlike DBO, Fukche has much better ground connections and is also at a lower altitude (about 14,000ft).

But the aerial distance between Fukche and the Western Highway is less than 70km. With the Western Highway, China connects Xinjiang with Tibet in territory that India claims. A potential adversary’s airfield so close to the highway increases China’s threat perceptions.

Barbora says that with the acquisition of new American C-130J Hercules transport aircraft that can land on and take off from “dirt strips”, the strategic importance of the ALGs has increased manifold.

Troops and supplies can now be transported to the front in shorter time and in larger numbers. They will also reduce the “damage’ caused by air maintenance — parachuting supplies in harsh weather. The Indian Air Force had also wanted to open another forward airstrip at Chushul but the plan was abandoned.

There may have been one of two possible reasons for this. Barbora said the terrain in Chushul was not appropriate, though it was used in the past. Another source said the IAF was forced to drop the plan because the Chinese objected and claimed ownership of a part of Chushul (also in eastern Ladakh).

In demanding the closure of the forward landing grounds, analysts in the Indian military believe, China is holding India’s border infrastructure development programme to ransom. Acceding to the demand would mean Antony’s emphasis on the border programme will have to be shelved in certain sectors.

The IAF is now focused on developing Nyoma in Ladakh, said to be about 23km from the Line of Actual Control, as a forward base. Unlike DBO, where fixed-wing aircraft can land and take off but cannot be based, Nyoma will have hangars and the entire establishment that goes into sustaining and sheltering fighter aircraft.

But New Delhi’s response to the revival of the Chinese demands to de-activate the ALGs is still taking shape. External affairs minister Salman Khurshid is scheduled to visit Beijing on May 9, followed by Antony in June.

At the unified commanders’ conference today, Antony said: “Our bilateral relations with China are, at times, bedevilled by border issues, particularly along the Line of Actual Control”. A defence ministry statement quoting him said: “The recent developments are no exception. Among the various initiatives to safeguard our border, the thrust has been on development of our border roads and advance landing grounds”.