Air Raid Drill to Be Held in Lhasa Amid Border Tensions
Lhasa is due to have a practice air raid drill on 18 September
Chinese authorities have ordered people in Tibet’s capital, Lhasa to prepare for a practice air raid alert which is due to happen on 18 September between 8pm until 12 midday the following day, Free Tibet’s research partner Tibet Watch has said.
The authorities have asked people in Lhasa to identify three different alarm sounds during the alert and told them not to panic, Tibet Watch said.
The drill comes amidst elevated tensions between the Indian and Chinese governments over territory along the Indian border, including Ladakh, a region of India that borders Tibet, and where soldiers from both sides have died in clashes this year.
Chinese paratroopers recently did a 1,000-metre training jump on the plateau, Chinese state media organisation, CGTN reported on 14 September, while India has moved a large amount of supplies including ammunition, equipment and fuel to Ladakh borders Tibet, Al Jazeera has reported.
Tensions have been building along a border that runs between India and Tibet, known as the line of actual control, which China contests. The two forces clashed in June, leaving at least twenty Indian troops and an undisclosed number of Chinese soldiers dead.
A soldier from a Tibetan special forces unit in the Indian military died during a mission near the border on the night of 29 – 30 August after he stepped on a landmine.
Chinese state media outlet the Global Times published a headline on 15 September which said the border tensions could extend to the winter.
Information supplied by Tibet Watch
