Beijing: India's plan to set up 35 new border posts along the India, China border has sparked off concerns in China, with a Chinese expert at an influential think-tank here terming the move as "provocative" that may trigger a new round of tension. "The establishment of new border posts is a sensitive issue. China-India border war in 1962 was caused by the forward policy initiated by the Jawaharlal Nehru government," Liu Zongyi, an expert from Shanghai Institute of International Studies (SIIS), wrote in an article published on Monday in the state-run daily Global Times.

"Now the LAC between China and India is located to the north of the MacMahon Line and the new posts built by India may cross the line, triggering a tense situation in the border area and thus affecting the bilateral friendly cooperation in other fields," said the article titled 'Provocative border posts add to tension'. Last month, Indo-Tibetan Border Police outgoing director general Ajay Chadha had said that 35 new border posts will be created and additional ITBP personnel deployed in a phased manner to bolster security on China, India frontier, which has seen a spate of incursions from the Chinese recently.

At present, India has over 150 posts along the border and the paramilitary personnel guard 3,488 kms of the LAC. Referring to the proposed posts besides periodic reports about incursions by the Chinese troops and speculation about the uncertainty over Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne's visit to China, Liu said the Indian government and the media are over reacting to the "border issues".