Stay alert over China

Earlier this week, China upped the ante in dealing with the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, which it claims as South Tibet. It renamed six towns in that northeastern state of this country to give some life to its claim, which is fundamentally false and flawed as it has no historical underpinning whatever.

The people of Arunachal Pradesh follow the same style of Buddhism — an Indian export to Tibet and China and many other regions in the first place — that is practised in Tibet, Bhutan and Sikkim and Ladakh in India. The religious basis can therefore be no consideration for Beijing’s bid to covet Indian territory. In this context, China’s strenuous objection to the Dalai Lama’s recent visit to Arunachal Pradesh appears to have a fairly clear political and tactical aim — to make a pincer with Pakistan in harassing New Delhi. To rebuff this move, it is not enough for the external affairs ministry to say — quite correctly — that giving cooked-up Chinese/Tibetan names to towns in a neighbour’s territory can’t make it your own. New Delhi needs to remain cognisant, however, that the recent Chinese moves on Arunachal and Pakistan’s actions in Kashmir through fifth columnists at about the same time are no passing coincidence.

India can have no interest in China’s premier policy of OBOR to strengthen its neighbourhood influence, specially as projects are being executed in parts of Jammu and Kashmir under illegal Pakistani control. An Indian representative attending a China-hosted conference on OBOR will thus invite ridicule. India should instead bolster its border defences.