Mao Zedong famously said that Tibet was the “palm of China” while Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA, present-day Arunachal Pradesh) were its fingers. Deng Xiaoping repeated this and Xi Jinping, who was a secretary in the Ministry of National Defense when China invaded Vietnam in 1979, followed it assiduously.
Mao annexed Tibet, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia to give depth to erstwhile China, and his successors have concentrated on Tibet’s “fingers.” The 78-day Doklam standoff between India and China in Bhutan last year was part of the plan to usurp these fingers.
Despite being engaged in boundary talks with Bhutan and the existence of a China-Bhutan agreement on the pending final boundary settlement, which stated that peace and tranquility should be maintained along the boundary and that both sides refrain from unilaterally altering the status on ground, China intruded into the Doklam Plateau, which was Bhutanese territory. This intrusion was contested by Indian troops, since India has a defense arrangement with Bhutan. However, even after a mutually agreed pullback, Chinese troops continued for few meters, making a permanent base of brigade-sized force, in addition to constructing posts and roads in Indian territory, the Shaksgam Valley.
China illegally occupies nearly 43,380 square kilometers of Indian territory: Aksai Chin (37,555 square kilometers), Shaksgam Valley (5,180 square kilometers), and 645 square kilometers in other areas. Gilgit-Baltistan (72,971 square kilometers), which was leased by Pakistan to China for 50 years, is also Indian territory. Yet China claims more areas, including Arunachal Pradesh (90,000 square kilometers).
On earlier occasions, every time India contested Chinese intrusions, the People’s Liberation Army withdrew. This is clear from the Nathu La clash of 1967, where PLA troops were forced to vacate their posts for three days, and in 1986 when the PLA withdrew from its intrusion in Sumdorog Chu, where it was confronted resolutely.
The problem is that many Indian politicians lack the resolve to confront China, despite the fact that even in 1962 it took the sacrifice of thousands of PLA troops to overrun Rezang La held by only around 400 Indian soldiers. Hence China continues with efforts to salami-slice Indian territory over a wide frontage, mostly where the border infrastructure on the Indian side is absent or poor.
In December 2017 and January 2018, China was discovered building a 1.25-kilometer road on the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) under a meter of snow, obviously at the behest of the PLA. China is also engaged in extensive mining close to Arunachal Pradesh, and tunneling under the LAC can hardly be ruled out.
Now satellite imagery shows that the PLA has moved into Arunachal Pradesh, at least 5km inside Indian territory in the Tsari Chhu Valley, and is well established: a battalion-sized post with barracks and underground construction; a training and sports ground; an electric generator; a road traversable by four-wheel-drive vehicles; and riverbanks lined with concrete and stone revetments.
This intrusion has not been sudden like in Doklam, but the PLA has taken advantage of the absence of Indian troops and lack of roads on the Indian side. Satellite imagery from February 27 shows the road surface being improved and many new construction vehicles; possibly the PLA plans to upgrade the intrusion into a brigade-sized post.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs refused to comment when contacted by Asia Times.
Over the years, Indian governments have continued to neglect development of border infrastructure, fearing China could exploit these, but grossly undermining its own defense potential and mobilization in the process.
The current government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done plenty of road development in the hinterland but no such enthusiasm has been shown for border areas. India also has the lopsided arrangement that development of border roads is under the Ministry of Home Affairs but execution is carried out by the Border Roads Organization (BRO), which is directly under the Ministry of Defense.
Recently, the BRO, tasked with building and maintaining sensitive border roads in the Himalayas, extended one road to the China border, but that is just one road and will require two to three seasons to stabilize. In many places there are either no roads at all or just narrow ones that permit only one-way traffic. Therefore troops are located scores of kilometers behind, providing ample opportunities to the PLA.
A cross-section in India is under the impression that the informal summit between Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Chinese city of Wuhan on April 27-28 put tensions on the back burner. Others feel that Modi’s meeting with Xi despite Doklam was meant to ensure China doesn’t create incident(s) on the border that will affect Modi’s chances in elections next year.
But China has never put its territorial ambitions on the back burner. It is buoyed by its gain from the recent summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and consolidation in South China Sea, Doklam and now Tsari Chhu. China continues to refuse to acknowledge Arunachal Pradesh, calling it “South Tibet.”
China is also aware that India continues to neglect equipping of its military, defense allocations being the lowest since 1962. The Parliament’s Standing Committee on Defense recently lambasted the government for neglecting the military, pointing out grave shortages. Yet Indian Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman openly rubbished the report, though she remained mum when it was presented in Parliament.
China is adept at political warfare and given the obsession of Indian politicians with elections, vote-banks and unending efforts in aggravating caste politics, China possibly psyched the Indian government that trade and investment is all that Xi Jinping is interested in. So it will only be an advantage all the way to China; if India continues to ignore China’s salami-slicing, what could be better?
The Bramaputra river was the natural boundary between Tibet and the lowland tribes. The British decided to move the boundary northwards to control the hill tribes. The McMahon Line was drawn at the foothills of the Himalaya ranges by the British. After independence India decided that the McMahon Line should be at the crest of the Himalaya range. All the above were decided unilaterally by the British or India when the Chinese were too weak or pre-occupied with civil war. So these are illegal annexations in the first place and never recognized by the Chinese.
Now that the Chinese are much stronger do anyone expect the Chinese not to reclaim back their land that was stolen?
Why govt of indIa ignoring it as such Chinese goods are all over India why paid media mum on it are we made fool by govt till when at this rate God knows what is in their mind except elections
This author obviously knows very little on these issues. The official Indian maps of 1958 show their northern boundaries as vague areas rather than clear lines. Despite numerous attempts by the Chinese to negotiate their boundaries with India, the Indian government repeatedly refused to negotiate them; instead seeking to claim evermore territory by sending their troops ever further north until the Chinese had enough (this caused the 1962 Sino-India War).
Additionally, the Chinese government officially stated that there was no agreement to pull their troops back after the Donglang standoff. Lastly, despite China wanting mutually beneficial trade with their neighboring countries, India wishes to prevent them all from having political relations with other countries (makes you wonder which country seeks to use them as fingers).
This author is nothing but an Indian government propagandist, and a poor one at that.
And Who is Jason Jean a Chineses Loudspeaker..??
Sunder Rajan yeah, don’t actually get into the historical facts I used to show why he is just a propagandist, just engage in name calling. You obviously don’t have anything substantive to add to the conversation.
Gavin Fernandes e Arthur Micol
Koh Jek Siew: What you have stated is correct and recorded clearly. India refuses to accept the facts and believes that if a lie is repeated a thousand times it will eventually be accepted as truth.
Sir,
With respect, you are presenting a very skeptical view of border. It’s one part of truth. Recently Manoj Joshi from ORF presented less scary more realistic situation. As we read both narratives we get a more nuanced picture.
Do not write off the Goole images, but please verify if these are military structures.
You must be aware that after 1962 war both countries had agreed that they will keep a 20km-stretch of land on either side of the McMahon Line/LAC totally demilitarised because the McMahon Line was drawn only on a scale map & therefore its error probability was 20km on either side of the drawn line.
The McMahon Line was never drawn after undertaking any land surveys & hence no boundary pillars were ever placed along the Line even by the colonial British raj.
This being the case, then how can one ever claim that so & so party has ingressed 5km or 10km within one another’s territory?
And those structures seen on GoogleEarth might just be ADMINISTRATIVE structures, i.e. they house the district administration, post office, telephone exchange etc etc, & not the PLA’s military garrisons.
At the end of day China will not get Arunachal or Tawang, but LAC needs to be adjusted in a give and take manner. This applies to both countries. The chinese policy of what I have is mine and what you have is up for negotiation will not work, but taking incorrect inflexible stand by Indian intellectuals will also not work.
Even Aksai Chin needs to be renegotiated in good faith. It will take time but as both countries grow so will costs of war and benefits of peace.
So by same logic Aksai Chin and doklam can be renegotiated. China cannot conquer India without consequences. Not threat but just stating facts. Similarly India cannot liberate Tibet either.
Jason Jean Using Chinese logic complete China must then belong to India , As Buddism was carried to China many centuries ago by Indian Monks..
Richard Truong Same holds true for you, Your idea of nationalism is based on homogenity. East Asian looking people are very much present in Assam , Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura. China never claims these pieces of land. Why this selective love.
Good faith can’t exist in dealing with the Chinese govt. This is something every single country has learnt, and is learning, over the course of recent history. "Faith" in geopolitical dealings is a sign of weakness, and anyone showing such signs will be gobbled up by Beijing. Beijing views the world as a predator-prey field, and this outlook has existed throughout Chinese history. It is not going to change any time soon. The bottom line is that in these international relations, the stronger will always prevail. Everything else is just Gandhian hogwash.
Raghunath Jeyaraman
You are right in that China never claims Manipur or other areas. This supports that China only claims territories based on its past control, but not by expansionism as others say.
Sunder Rajan
Yes, only if there were still any Buddhism remained in India. Two facts you need to be aware are that first, when Buddhism flourished in South Asia, there was no country called India, but hundreds of tribes or kingdoms. Second, over the last thousand plus years, South Asia had gone through some many changes, in rulers and even languistic which led to the dismise of Sanskrit and to some extent Palis(in which original Buddhist scripts were recorded). So, your claim of Buddism was born by India is similar to claiming Monkey is Human’s ancestors. I would say that the best guess would be Monkeys and Humans are two branches sharing the same ancestor in the past.