India is setting up a satellite tracking and data reception centre in the neighbouring Himalayan state of Bhutan to counter a similar facility by the Chinese in the region, The Economic Times reported.

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The Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) station in Bhutan is likely to double up as “a strategic asset” for the country, given its location between India and China, said the report citing unidentified people aware of the matter.

China has set up a similar advanced satellite tracking centre and astronomical observatory about 125 kms from the Line of Actual Control, the official border between India and China at Ngari, in Tibet Autonomous Region, the report said.

China's facility in Tibet is so advanced that apart from tracking Indian satellites, it can also "blind" them, the report said.

The strategic step by India comes after the Doklam crisis when China tried to construct a road at a tri-junction between India, China and Bhutan, which led to a 72 day face-off between the Indian Army and the Chinese People's Liberation Army at Doklam in 2017, the report added.

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