China military improves air supply for troops at Himalayan border with India

The PLA has upgraded infrastructure and improved logistics to achieve ‘combat oxygen’ for soldiers in the high-altitude outpost

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PLA troops stationed in China’s Himalayan border region now have better access to oxygen supplies, according to the Chinese military. Photo: Weibo

Published: 12:00pm, 9 Jan 2025

Chinese troops stationed in the harsh conditions of the Tibetan plateau now have access to better supplies of oxygen as part of efforts to strengthen equipment, training and logistics along the disputed western border with India, the military said.

PLA Daily, the People’s Liberation Army mouthpiece, said on Monday that the military has established a 20km (12.4 miles) supply zone to improve operational efficiency at its high-altitude border outposts.

Liu Hao, commander of a border regiment stationed 5,380 metres (17,700 feet) above sea level in the Hotan military subdistrict, told the newspaper that faster and more reliable oxygen access is critical for soldiers’ health and combat readiness.

Hotan – in Xinjiang region on the Karakoram plateau, the second-highest mountain range on Earth – is not far from the Galwan Valley, scene of a deadly skirmish between Chinese and Indian soldiers on June 15, 2020.

China and India share 3,500km (2,170 miles) of disputed border, shaped by colonial-era boundary demarcations, along the Himalayan frontier in some of the harshest conditions on Earth, where oxygen levels are less than 40 per cent of those at sea level.

The Hotan military subdistrict, which is subordinate to the PLA’s Xinjiang Military Command, is responsible for operations along the western sector of the Line of Actual Control, where tensions flared several times in recent years before easing in late 2024.

The two nuclear-armed Asian neighbours agreed to de-escalate tensions following discussions between Chinese President Xi Jinping and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Brics summit in October.