‘Salami slicing strategy’: China opening new military front against India near Siachen warns geostrategist

India is navigating a fragile “cold peace” with China even as Beijing steadily advances what New Delhi views as revisionist ambitions along their disputed high-altitude frontier, geostrategist Brahma Chellaney has warned. In a recent post on X (formerly Twitter), Chellaney flagged China’s accelerating activity in the Shaksgam Valley as a potential game-changer for India’s security calculus in the region.

The Shaksgam Valley — a strategically critical tract of over 5,000 sq km — was illegally ceded by Pakistan to China under a 1963 boundary agreement that India has never recognised. Chellaney described the transfer as a “gift” of stolen Indian territory and said recent developments indicate that China’s actions have moved well beyond civilian infrastructure building.

“Satellite imagery and intelligence assessments since 2024 show that China is no longer engaged in benign ‘infrastructure’ building,” Chellaney wrote. “It is opening a new military front against India.”

According to Chellaney, China’s so-called “salami slicing” strategy in Shaksgam is nearing a tipping point. By mid-2024, Beijing had completed a road across the 4,805-metre-high Aghil Pass into the Lower Shaksgam Valley. The development places Chinese construction teams — and potentially military patrols — within 50 km of the Indian-controlled Siachen Glacier, near the strategically sensitive Indira Col.

The implications, he argued, are profound. For decades, India’s defence posture in Siachen has been oriented towards Pakistan from the south. China’s new access route from the north could fundamentally alter that equation.

“The new axis of access enables China to apply pressure from the north, raising the prospect of a two-front contingency on the world’s highest battlefield,” Chellaney said, warning that China’s rapid advances are transforming the Siachen–Shaksgam–Karakoram triangle into a potential flashpoint.

India’s government has publicly reiterated its concerns over Chinese activity in the region. Responding to questions on rising Chinese aggression, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India has consistently opposed infrastructure development by China under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in Shaksgam, which New Delhi considers Indian territory under Pakistan’s illegal occupation.

“Chinese infrastructure buildup via CPEC is taking place in the Shaksgam Valley, which is Indian territory,” Jaiswal said. “We have never recognised the so-called China-Pakistan boundary agreement of 1963 and have consistently maintained that it is illegal and invalid.”

Jaiswal added that India does not recognise CPEC, which passes through Indian territory, and has repeatedly conveyed its position to both Chinese and Pakistani authorities. “We have consistently protested with the Chinese side for its attempts to alter the ground reality in the Shaksgam Valley,” he said, underscoring that India reserves the right to take “necessary measures” to safeguard its interests.