India Tries to Catch Up in a Road Race With China

Infrastructure is easy to overlook when examining a country's defensive capabilities. Compared with artillery, troops and armored vehicles, the roads and rail lines that enable their movement seem less exciting. But in the singularly austere environment of the Doklam Plateau along the border between China and India -- known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC) -- infrastructure is critical to determining the balance of power. Bridges, tunnels and road networks could all play a decisive role in a skirmish or larger conflict between China and India over the 4,057-kilometer (2,521-mile) LAC. And for New Delhi, that may mean a steep battle ahead should its standoff with Beijing give way to war....