India is "seriously" looking at the "disparity" in border infrastructure on its side in Arunachal Pradesh compared to the development on the Chinese side and is "trying to change that", Army Chief Deepak Kapoor has said.
He also said that there has been no increase in the Chinese incursions and India would be "as much blameworthy" of incursions due to differences in perceptions on what constituted the Line of Actual Control.
"It (improved infrastructure on the Chinese side) gives them an additional capability to bring in additional troops if and when they want to bring in.
So that's an area where we need to be on an equal footing. The fact that our infrastructure is not so well-developed is a fact. There is a disparity and we are seriously looking into it and trying to change that," Kapoor said in Karan Thapar's 'Devil's Advocate' programme for CNN-IBN.
He also did not feel that the "string of pearls" of military installations being built by China from Myanmar in the east to Seychelles on the west was a threat to India.
"When we sit together and discuss any threats to India's national security, we will take all such considerations into discussion," he said.
On the question of Chinese incursions, the army chief said, "I think a degree of misperception has been built on this issue of incursions. First and foremost, it is a matter of perception. The Chinese have a different perception of the LAC
as do we. When they come up to their perception, we call it an incursion and likewise they do."
He said the level of total number of incursions in 2007 is "somewhat similar to what it has been in the past. So, the feeling that too many incursions have taken place into Indian territory is not right."
Asked whether Indian troops also enter Chinese territory as often because of differences of perception about the LAC, the army chief replied: "That's right, which they would call an incursion into their side. So, therefore, to that extent, we would be as much blameworthy for that kind of incursion up to our perceived LAC."
Kapoor dismissed media perception that Chinese incursions were a sign of muscle-flexing by Beijing indicating something worse to come.
