Far away from the seas, an important—and overlooked—maritime confrontation is underway on the roof of the world. As China and India face off across their mountainous Himalayan border, an arms race is underway at the Pangong Tso, a large alpine lake. The contested China/India border bisects Pangong Tso, with China controlling about two-thirds of brackish, 83-mile long body of water. 

Spanned by the contested line of control, the waters of Pangong Tso are subjected to patrol boat incursions and seasonal border confrontations. After a bit of a pause in 2018, overt conflict resumed in 2019, with Indian and Chinese troops engaging in end-of-season hand-to-hand combat in and around Pangong Tso. In May 2020, Immediately after the winter thaw, confrontations resumed, culminating last month in the worst outbreak of border violence in decades. While overt conflict in the area has—for now—halted after a fatal June confrontation in the nearby Galwan Valley, both sides are digging in and bringing in reinforcements—including vessels. 

Conflict is likely to resume, and the prospect of a maritime battle at 13,400 feet on this picturesque and strategically-placed alpine lake—part of a larger, five lake association—merits a closer look. As an easy—almost consequence-free—place to do battle, heroic maritime actions on isolated inland waters can be instrumental in forging a maritime tradition and jump-starting naval investments.  

A Beautiful Battlefield:

Pangong Tso, in itself, is a desolate piece of water—a long and narrow salt lake that freezes over every year, rounded in winter by piles of blown ice 8 to 10 feet high. In 1905, geologist Ellsworth Huntington described the lake as “exquisitely beautiful, a sparkling sheet of the clearest, deepest blue,” that “rival, or even excel, the most famous lakes of Italy or Switzerland.” A backdrop for “Three Idiots”, a 2009 Indian cinematic blockbuster, the area has captured the imagination of the Indian public, driving tourism and development. 

But the line of control—the contested border area—bisects Pangong Tso. Indian and Chinese soldiers battle on the lake’s northern shore, where contested mountainous ridges, or “fingers”, crenelate the beautiful lakeside, and patrol craft joust in the blue waters.

It is almost routine. For years, the environs around the lake have been subjected to aggressive probes, border incursions and violent standoffs. On the lake itself, two small navies have jostled for position—with waterborne incursions resulting in confrontations ranging from shouted epithets to high-speed chases and even the ramming of opposing vessels (a good account of a routine confrontation is detailed in the Telegraph of India online, here).

The situation has steadily decayed. In 1999, when India was preoccupied with the Pakistan border, China built a permanent track along the lake, and, in that time, started operating twenty-two small armed patrol boats on the lake. According to an 8 September 2009 Financial Express article, these were “smaller vessels seating five to seven soldiers”, that outnumbered and out-maneuvered India’s two slower and larger lake patrol boats. Then, in 2000, Chinese rammed Indian patrol boats and, in April 2013, “over twenty Chinese boats made a 10km deep incursion on the Indian side of the lake.”

In response, India procured seventeen QRT (Quick Reaction Team) Boats to replace the older vessels, and, by late 2012, had begun to deploy capable, ballistically-protected Tempest 35-SPCs, patrol boats (built in the United States by Tampa Yacht Manufacturing). According to a 3 October 2012 article in The Economic Times, the lake boats of the People’s Liberation Army had “been virtually running circles around Indian troops handicapped by slow, outdated vessels.” By 2014, these new QRT boats, called “Tampas”, helped turn back a coordinated Chinese border incursion by both land and lake units. 

The maritime arms race continued as China apparently deployed heavier Type-928B patrol boats. In 2018, China announced the deployment of surveillance radars and a new non-metallic patrol boat, with “a top speed of 40 kilometres per hour and can withstand collisions with large pieces of ice.” Other recent reports suggest that more warlike Type-928D patrol boats have arrived at the lake. 

In late 2019, a September scuffle on land escalated into the Lake, where three Indian and two Chinese boats were damaged. 

In May of this year, Indian sources started complaining that the Chinese were patrolling more aggressively and bringing more boats to the lake. In late June, reports indicated that the Chinese had built defensive features along the ridgeline “Finger 4” feature, building bunkers and a “marina-like façade” near the lake. Thousands of troops have poured into the area.

While talks to defuse the confrontation and to prevent ramming incidents are ongoing, the arms race is continuing. India is now planning to bring in a dozen high-speed interceptors, that, according to the 02 July 2020 Times of India, “may have to be dismantled and airlifted by C-17 Globemaster III aircraft.” Upon arrival, these boats may be supplemented by landing craft to facilitate Indian mobility along the lake and around the zone of control. 

This Is How Navies Are Made:

While it is easy to dismiss this maritime sideshow in a landlocked, brackish puddle, maritime traditions grow from such confrontations. 

These tiny, easily-overlooked border-zone crucibles lend themselves to conflict.

The question for analysts is where these continued confrontations on the lake might lead. The U.S. Navy’s “Don’t give up the ship” ethos grew from a young Oliver Hazard Perry’s heroic stand on Lake Erie, one of America’s inland lakes. Russia’s larger seaborne aspirations grew from Peter the Great’s “funny flotilla” on Lake Pleshcheyevo and were heightened after real waterborne skirmishes on Russian lakes. If the maritime is to be a centerpiece of alignment with India, this ongoing maritime conflict on the roof of the world should be highlighted at every possible opportunity.

Conflict on the Pangong Tso may be inevitable—China obviously wants to nibble away at potential transit barriers to Pakistan and the countries beyond. But with Pangong Tso firmly ensconced in India’s modern popular culture, continued maritime confrontation on this picturesque, high-altitude lake will have far-reaching consequences that even China’s aggressive army of strategic risk-benefit evaluators have overlooked.