China launched the first bullet train in strategically important Tibet, located near the Indian border

China started operating its first electric train in the strategically important Himalayan region of Tibet from Friday. The train will also connect Tibet to the provincial capital Lhasa and Nyingchi, a city bordering Arunachal Pradesh. According to official media reports, the 435.5 km Lhasa-Nyingchi section under the Sichuan-Tibet Railway has been inaugurated on July 1, ahead of the centenary year of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

In November, Chinese President Xi Jinping instructed officials to expedite a railway project connecting Sichuan province and Nyingchi in Tibet. This railway line will play an important role in stabilizing security in our border area. The Sichuan-Tibet rail route will start from Sichuan's capital Chengdu and pass through Yan and enter Tibet.

Through Tibet it will go till Chamdo. This will reduce the journey from Chengdu to Lhasa for 48 hours to 13 hours. Nyingchi is a city in Medog province and is near the border with Arunachal Pradesh, India. China had earlier claimed Arunachal Pradesh as part of South Tibet, which India strongly rejected. This railway section can prove to be important for China in terms of military transport.

The city of Nyingchi is adjacent to the Arunachal Pradesh border. China claims that Arunachal Pradesh is part of South Tibet. India strongly rejects his claim. India and China have a border dispute over the 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC). Qian Feng, director of the research department at the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times that if a crisis scenario occurs along the Sino-India border, the railway would provide a major facility for China's strategic material delivery.