India opens new air base on China border
India has been easing border tensions with China for the past few months. In this continuation, the country has started operations of a new air base in the Ladakh region. The Indian media Hindustan Times reported that the air base named ‘Mudh-Neoma’ is located just 14 miles (23 kilometers) from the Chinese border.
This air base, located at an altitude of 13,700 feet, was built by India’s Border Roads Organization (BRO). The project of the base, built at a cost of about $ 25 million, was approved in 2023.
This base has a 1.7-mile-long runway, new hangars, an air traffic control (ATC) building, a crash bay and necessary residential facilities. It has been built to accommodate large transport aircraft and modern fighter jets.
India-China relations deteriorated sharply after many casualties in a clash on the Ladakh border in 2020. However, diplomatic warmth between the two countries returned in 2024. In October that year, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia. The two countries then signed an agreement on border patrol.
India resumed issuing tourist visas to Chinese citizens in July after a five-year hiatus. The following month, Modi visited China for the first time since 2018 and attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tianjin.
Direct air links between the two countries also resumed in October this year. These flights were suspended in 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
