China is putting great effort into developing its soldiers’ ability to operate in high-altitude and cold environments, increasing its military capacity relative to India. Skills as simple as shovelling snow have become part of combat training exercises. Equipment, facilities and procedures are being improved in what appears to be a highly systematic approach to mitigating the challenges of moving and fighting in the Himalayas and adjacent areas.
Since 2015–16, under the leadership of Chinese President Xi Jinping, the People’s Liberation Army has undergone significant reforms. Those reforms have concentrated on enhancing combat readiness in the information age, transforming the PLA into a joint, network-centric fighting force by integrating its services, arms and systems. The PLA Western Theatre Command (WTC) has been particularly active in adapting to what the PLA calls ‘informatisation’ and ‘intelligentisation’, focusing on securing China’s southern and southwestern borders, preparing for both conventional and unconventional warfare and training its soldiers to operate in the challenging terrains and high altitudes of Xinjiang and Tibet.
Terrain and altitude training is a central pillar of the WTC’s jointness capabilities, as the ability to achieve interconnected goals in complex environments would shape the results of conflict. Moreover, given that it is the largest theatre command by area and covers both the arid northwestern deserts of Xinjiang and the high-altitude areas of Tibet, along the border with India, adaptation to terrain and altitudes determines the ability of soldiers to fight protracted conflict and conceal postures without disrupting the sustainable flow of everyday resources to combat bases.
Further, because the Indian border is one of the principal operational directions assigned to the WTC, the outcome of any contest between the Chinese and Indian militaries will be determined not just by the quality of weapons systems and combat doctrines, but also by the logistical superiority and adaptation tactics of the soldiers on both sides. In this regard, the WTC’s focus on terrain and altitude training is an attempt to gain advantage over the Indian soldier’s adaption to fighting in the Himalayas.
WTC’s terrain training work includes combat and non-combat tasks. Radar stations in the WTC, for example, are experimenting with ways to ensure a continued supply of tap water, since the detachments of trucks that supply water to base units are often irregular or snowed in. The new measures require investment of intensive resources. Soldiers in the WTC are laying water pipelines and ensuring replenishment of water tanks. A successful case study is that of a radar station under a WTC air force brigade based on a snow-covered plateau in Tibet, which, in February last year connected soldiers’ dormitories with running-water supply.
Similarly, shovelling snow in the Tibetan mountains or in the high-altitude desert areas of Xinjiang is a core non-combat task required of WTC personnel. While it is a non-combat task, it has significant applications in combat work. For example, a CCTV report from January 2023 highlighted the significance of practising snow-shovelling for a Xinjiang border detachment. The detachment, based at the foot of the Barluk Mountains, faced 200 days of gale-force winds in the new year period that led to snow accumulation, estimated to be as high as 2–2.5 metres and extending as far as 60 metres from the detachment’s base. So, when members of the detachment undertook a border observation patrol and encountered severe snow accumulation, they demonstrated snow-shovelling skills. Then they had to reach the final patrol point on foot.
Combat tasks are also designed to account for challenging terrain and high-altitude conditions. For instance, earlier this year, an army brigade from the WTC engaged in snowfield training to improve combat readiness in cold, high-altitude and low-oxygen environments. This approach aligns with the PLA’s standard of effective training, in which combat scenarios are accurately simulated and tasks are assigned to test various components of joint and integrated operations.
Further, WTC soldiers posted along the Kunlun Mountains (extending into Xinjiang and Tibet) have begun building army command posts concealed near snowlines at altitudes of over 4000 metres. The goal has been to continuously lead troops to conduct effective on-site research, planning and training in high-altitude zones. Officers in the command posts formulate measures for high-altitude training and preparedness and conduct concealment tests for soldiers, vehicles and tents, sometimes changing locations every few months. Then, soldiers are required to pursue other combat-preparedness tasks, such as testing of marching speed over several hundred kilometres, as well as practising live-fire shooting to determine ballistic performance of artillery at various altitudes. From the Indian perspective, this is significant because, over time, some of those concealed positions and tactical arrangements have come to restrict Indian forces’ access to key patrolling points along the de facto border, the Line of Actual Control.
Finally, since August 2022, border defence companies in Xinjiang have been testing a new ‘integrated individual system’, which includes a new-type helmet, multifunction night-vision goggles, a portable computer, an individual load carrier and an assault rucksack. The challenge will be to integrate adaptation to hypoxic conditions with the ability to carry heavy loads that come with this new integrated system. (The material load seems to be about 30kg). This indicates that the next step in combat altitude training in the WTC is for individual soldiers to become more independent and resilient.
Overall, as Indian and Chinese soldiers gear up for long winters along the border, India has much to look out for in relation to the WTC’s efforts in terrain and altitude training. At the same time, the challenges that personnel of the WTC encounter while operating in hypoxic conditions are intense and may require intensive investment in training and resource management to overcome.