China advancing along disputed Indian border amid Xi's Delhi visit, satellite images reveal

Panic has spread across remote border villages in India's Arunachal Pradesh as indigenous communities report being forced to abandon their ancestral grazing and hunting grounds due to the rapid advancement of the Chinese military.

Satellite imagery obtained by a British news outlet The Independent reveals a rapid expansion of Chinese infrastructure in multiple locations along and near the disputed border in Arunachal Pradesh, India. The developments include new buildings, paved roads, and multiple helipads.

Maintaining a permanent Indian military presence remains difficult in this rugged Himalayan region due to extreme geography. The transformations captured in satellite images have raised severe alarm among border communities.

Takok Mra, a local resident from a remote village about 20km from the border in Arunachal Pradesh, spoke to The Independent by phone. China claims the entire state of Arunachal Pradesh as its territory, calling it "Zangnan" or "South Tibet". Mra said he is ready to fight against the Chinese military if the situation escalates to an extreme.

"The Chinese are now occupying our ancestral land. We gather food, survive, and earn our living from this territory; this is our land," Mra said. 

"They have already pushed deep into Indian territory. I cannot state the precise distance in kilometres, but they have taken over a vast area," he added. The allegations surface as Chinese President Xi Jinping visits India this week to attend the Brics summit. 

He arrived in New Delhi today (12 September), where he is scheduled to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Marking the largest Chinese delegation visit in years, both governments have sought to downplay border tensions, claiming there is no standoff similar to the 2020 deadly clash that claimed the lives of at least 20 Indian soldiers.

However, satellite images and testimonies from border villagers present a starkly different reality. The images provide clear evidence of continuous Chinese advancement and infrastructure construction in disputed territory – issues that remain subjects of diplomatic and military-level talks between the two nations.

Analysts examining satellite imagery provided by Vantor reported recent construction and structural changes in multiple locations across the Upper Subansiri Valley. Takok Mra's village, Gelemo, is located in this region.

According to open-source intelligence agency Janes, the most visible construction activity appears in two areas near Zhari town, north of Lhunze County in Tibet. The area is currently under Chinese control.

"Satellite imagery confirms that construction work has recently taken place in these border areas," Janes analysts stated. They added that overlaying border lines claimed by both India and China shows that portions of these structures fall directly inside disputed areas claimed by both countries.

At a site south of Zhari town, construction that began in early 2019 – with initial structures visible by August of that year – remains ongoing. Evidence includes land clearing, engineering vehicles, and a concrete batching plant. Analysts told The Independent that military utility for the site cannot be ruled out.

Analysts believe another construction site within the town holds an equal likelihood of being a military facility. Nearby, a road has been widened and its steep gradient reduced—modifications typically made to facilitate the movement of heavy military equipment and prepare roads for year-round use.

South of Lhunze, two small helipads have been replaced by a larger single helipad, while another new helipad has been constructed further south.

The latest satellite imagery from August 2026 shows roofing completed on at least one building, indicating construction is progressing at full speed. Based on building designs, vehicles resembling military transport, and adjacent training grounds, analysts suspect the site is likely a military base. Additionally, a new road connecting to the town was constructed between February and May 2026.

These allegations come at an exceptionally sensitive time for Sino-Indian relations. This marks Xi Jinping's first visit to Delhi since the 2020 Galwan Valley border clash, which dragged relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbours to their lowest point in decades. He is accompanied by a massive delegation of roughly 400 officials.

As local resentment over Chinese actions grows, two independent fact-finding teams visited the remote mountain villages of Gelemo and Taksing, located 15–20km from the India-China border in the Eastern Himalayas, to assess the situation.
Tadak Pakba, president of the All Tagin Students' Union (ATSU) – an organisation representing the Tagin indigenous community of Arunachal – led an eight-member team to Gelemo and Taksing. They collected firsthand accounts from local residents, indigenous people, and military porters.

Pakba remarked that the current pace of Chinese intrusion is "unprecedented".

"Panic does not just prevail in border villages; it is the harsh ground reality right now," he said. "The Indian military is retreating while the Chinese military moves forward."

Pakba and his team conducted a three-day field investigation from 11 to 13 August. They reported that Chinese forces have entered several areas where the Indian army previously patrolled.

These include remote hunting spots and yak grazing grounds that local Indian villagers had accessed freely for years. "Villagers are currently barred from entering those zones... creating extreme panic that has forced many to migrate away from border areas," Pakba said, adding that "all of this is very recent – happening since June this year."

The investigative team submitted a report to the deputy commissioner of Upper Subansiri and the Chief Minister's Office, which was reviewed by The Independent. The report demanded "immediate intervention" to halt the "presence and activities of the Chinese People's Liberation Army [PLA]" in the Taksing-Gelemo border zone.

It urged authorities not to view the matter as a "routine development issue" but as one of "vital strategic and national security importance".

The issue was first brought to light by the Nah Welfare Society (NWS), an organisation representing the local "Nah" tribal community, whose ancestors migrated from Tibet generations ago to settle in Upper Subansiri district.

In a memorandum to the deputy commissioner of Upper Subansiri, the NWS alleged that the PLA has constructed roads, bridges, and military camps on traditional local grazing lands, hunting grounds, and forest foraging sites.
"The pace and intent of current Chinese PLA activities in Taksing are deeply alarming. We are losing our land inch by inch every day," the memorandum stated.

For locals like Takok Mra, losing traditional border lands is not an abstract territorial dispute – it is an irreplaceable personal loss. His family has guarded this ancestral land since the 1962 Sino-Indian War.

"I am a true patriot. Give us weapons to protect our country and our soil," said 38-year-old Mra.

These indigenous tribes who hunt and herd in Himalayan forests are not mere silent spectators; they act as early informants, alerting the Indian military to any troop movements in disputed zones. Mra noted that locals first alerted Indian forces to the Chinese presence in early June, prompting increased military activity in the area.

Expressing frustration over the lack of basic amenities like electricity, roads, healthcare, and schools in his village, Mra contrasted the situation with China's aggressive infrastructure drive across the border.

"When we visit our Gelemo village, we feel completely cut off from the world. Lacking basic facilities, our people are migrating to district headquarters for livelihoods," he said. 

He indicated that the gradual depopulation of these remote border areas is precisely what allows Chinese forces to advance unchecked.

A second fact-finding team was dispatched by the People's Party of Arunachal (PPA) – a regional coalition partner of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The four-member team visited the border regions.

Kapa Bengia, chief advisor to the PPA and a former state minister, was part of the delegation. They visited Taksing, Gelemo, and Maja, one of the villages closest to the border.

"The Chinese army has already moved forward, and our patrol teams are no longer allowed access even toward our own territory," Bengia said.

The report noted that Nonga Hill in the remote Taksing circle – historically used by the Na and other tribes – has now been declared completely off-limits to locals.

The Indian Army, however, completely rejected reports of Chinese intrusions into disputed territory, calling them "incorrect and baseless". India's Ministry of External Affairs took a more cautious stance, describing the border issue as a "much more serious" matter regarding the maintenance of peaceful bilateral relations.

Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the Indian government, said, "We have made it clear that the overall state of our bilateral relations will depend on the situation at the border."

China also issued a statement, neither confirming nor denying new border tensions. In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said, "The China-India border situation is currently stable overall."

The clearest indication of concern from the Indian side came in a statement by Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu. Following a meeting with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Khandu stated that Singh is "deeply concerned and proactive regarding this issue" and will "definitely provide necessary infrastructure support" in the coming days.

Ajay Murtem, a local leader from Arunachal and resident of Upper Subansiri, said, "If the Indian government does not immediately stop Chinese expansion in Taksing, Maja, Gelemo, and the Srichu Valley, Upper Subansiri district will become a new war front between China and India."

Murtem added that the Tagin tribe and its sub-sect, the Na community, have long performed religious rituals at Potrang Lake, located just an hour from Taksing. In recent days, Chinese troops blocked indigenous locals from visiting this sacred traditional Buddhist shrine.

"We are all patriots," he said. 

"People living along the international border are not just residents of remote villages; they are the eyes and ears of the nation on the border," he added.

Srikanth Kondapalli, a professor of Chinese studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, said events in Arunachal are part of China's "salami slicing" strategy. This tactic involves incrementally occupying and consolidating small bits of territory over long periods rather than launching a sudden, major invasion.

Explaining the tactic, he said, "First, the Chinese release a few yaks across the border and wait for the response from Indian forces. If met with no resistance for months, they construct a small hut, later turn it into a permanent structure, and eventually build a full military camp if left unchallenged." 

He referred to the region as a "grey zone", as the McMahon Line separating Arunachal and Tibet is not legally demarcated.

The Indian government attempted to counter China's "Xiaokang" or prosperous border model villages by launching its own "Vibrant Villages Programme". However, according to Kondapalli, India's programme "failed to succeed" because it required building a "massive ecosystem". 

He added, "Conversely, China built around 100 modern model villages in Longju and began expanding toward areas claimed by India in Arunachal."

He believes India's inability to regularly reach the Line of Actual Control (LAC) gives China the opportunity to execute its salami-slicing strategy.

"Until you build your infrastructure and consolidate your position on the LAC, you have no bargaining power," Kondapalli said. 

"The Chinese can reach the LAC in just 24 hours. They began road construction there in the 1980s, while we only woke up recently," he added.

The border issue remains a highly debated topic in domestic Indian politics, and the Indian public will closely monitor any progress between Xi and Modi during the Brics summit. 

However, with little likelihood of the two leaders addressing media jointly, Kondapalli believes the border issue is unlikely to be formally raised during the visit, as both China – set to host Brics next year – and India are keen to project the summit as a successful meeting.