Border tension rises between India and China
CHINA and India face contested border issues. India argues that China occupies 38,000 square kilometres of its territory in the western Himalayan region, while China claims much of the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, which is 90,000 square kilometers.
The McMahon Line boundary dispute is at the heart of relations between China and India. The disputed border follows the ''McMahon Line'' drawn up in 1914 when the British ruled India. Beijing does not recognize this demarcation and claims a large portion of the Indian side of the border.
A slow forward move towards the McMahon Line was begun on the ground, to establish a new de facto boundary. The McMahon Line was then forgotten until about 1935 when the British government decided to publish the documents in the 1937 edition of Aitchison's Collection of Treaties.
For China, the McMahon Line stands as a symbol of imperialist aggression on the country. The dispute on Arunachal Pradesh is China's most intractable border issue with India.
Because the gap between China and India is wide, it is difficult for both nations to reach consensus. The area of this disputed region is three times that of Taiwan and it is flat and rich in water and forest resources.
The NEFA (North East Frontier Agency) was created in 1954. On 7 November 1959, Chou En-lai proposed that both sides should withdraw their troops twenty kilometres from the McMahon line.
The issue was quiet during the decade of cordial Sino-Indian relations, but erupted again during the Sino-Indian War of 1962. During the 1962 war, China captured most of the NEFA. However, China soon declared victory and voluntarily withdrew back to the McMahon Line.
During Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to India in April 2005, the two sides signed an agreement on political settlement of the boundary issue, setting guidelines and principles. In the agreement, China and India affirmed their readiness to seek a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solution to the boundary issue through equal and friendly negotiations. Twelve rounds of talks have been held before and after 28 years of negotiations, the two sides have never even agreed on a military line separating the two armies.
India's national security adviser M.K. Narayanan and Chinese state councillor Dai Bingguo resumed the talks on 7th August 2009 after a year's gap, focusing on narrowing down differences along their border.
The August talks were plagued by the traditional mistrust since the 1962 brief war, and in recent months, allegations of China's interference in India's strategic matters clouded the talks.
Meanwhile, India's foreign policy establishment was rattled by recent Indian media reports that a think-tank linked to the Chinese military had called for India to be split into 30 independent states. The paper said that if China ''takes a little action, the so-called great Indian federation can be broken up''. This would be in China's interests and lead to more prosperity in the region, it said, according to reports.
The Indian Government took the article so seriously it issued a statement saying the two countries had agreed to ''resolve outstanding issues, including the boundary question, through peaceful dialogue and consultations, and with mutual sensitivity to each other's concerns''.
Feathers were also ruffled in Delhi in recent weeks when the Indian media said Google satellite maps mysteriously showed the names of several towns in Arunachal Pradesh in Mandarin, not English or Hindi, making it appear the region was part of China.
There was further tension two months ago when Beijing objected to a $US60 million ($71.3 million) Asian Development Bank loan to India for a project in the territory China claims.
Against the background, there are fears that a stand-off between India and China over Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh could seriously damage ties between the Asian giants. Strategic experts in New Delhi warn that tensions in the remote border region are on the rise.
Of late, Chinese patrolling of the 3,500-km (2,200-mile) border, particularly along Arunachal Pradesh state, which Beijing claims as its territory, has also been markedly assertive Indian officials said.
In June the Governor of Arunachal Pradesh and former army Indian chief, retired general J.J. Singh, said up to 30,000 new troops would be deployed in the region. In June a state-run newspaper in China accused India of ''unwise military moves'' along the Arunachal Pradesh border.
The reaction in Chinese official media to India's troop deployment has been reportedly strong. An editorial in the Global Times said China would never compromise on the border dispute and asked India to consider if it could afford the consequences of a conflict with China.
New Delhi saw all this as an increasing assertiveness as part of Beijing's overall "Rising China" strategy. "The Chinese government is trying to say that the public opinion in China is in favour of a more assertive stand towards India," B. Raman, former head of RAW (Research and Analysis Wing), said. Others say it is a warning from China that India must back down from its military posturing.
''Any doubts that the Indian foreign policy establishment might have had about the threat posed by China have evaporated in recently months" says Brahma Chellaney, professor of strategic studies at Delhi's Centre for Policy Research.
About rising tension between India and China as a result of a buildup of Indian and Chinese troops in a disputed, mountainous Himalayan border region, it is reported the State Department has urged both sides to keep the situation calm.
China and India have long-standing misgivings about their strategic intents against each other. Beijing fears India's deepening ties with the US are a part to contain China, while New Delhi perceives Beijing's increasing influence on Myanmar and Pakistan a threat to its backyard.
The tension between India and China, if continues, tends to destabilize South Asia and pre-empts the conditions for economic integration, for interconnectivity through multi-modal transport and for increasing prosperity in the region.
The author is former Bangladesh Ambassador to the UN, Geneva.
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