China's New Border Law & Its Impact On India

Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs on December 30, 2021, informed that it had issued several standardised names for 15 places in the Arunachal Pradesh of India. The issue is that these names are to be used in all the document work of China. It shows Arunachal Pradesh, the North Eastern state of India as South Tibet. 

Here is all the information you need on what China's new border law is and what will its impact be on India. Check the complete article below. 

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China's New Border Law: Details 

1. As it has been mentioned above, China has assigned new names from its end to 15 places it considers to be a part of 'South Tibet' which actually is a part of India, named Arunachal Pradesh. Such invasive strategy is being condemned by India on a global scale and the country has responded with a clear statement that assigning invented names would do no good and would not alter the facts that the places are a part of Arunachal Pradesh. 
2. The new land border law has been effective from January 1, 2022. These laws were passed in China on October 23, 2021. This incident was a reaction to an unresolved border standoff between the two countries in eastern Ladakh. Also, the Chinese embassy at that time had written to the Indian Member of parliament on attending a dinner reception hosted by the Tibetian Parliament in exile. 
3. the new law was exactly named the 'protection and exploitation of the country’s land border areas' passed by the Chinese Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress. 
4. It was also reported by Chinese news agency Xinhua that, "the sovereignty and territorial integrity of… China are sacred and inviolable”, and the state needs to “take measures to safeguard the territorial integrity and land boundaries and guard against and combat any act that undermines [these]".
5. The law also mandates that states take proper measures to strengthen the border defence, support the economic and social upliftment of the areas nearby and improve various public services and infrastructure that would help people living there and raise their standards of living. It also aims to promote social, economic development and defence at the border areas. 

China's New Border Law: Why was the move brought into effect?

1. The Chinese move to rename the places in Arunachal is suspected to be the reaction to RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat visiting His Holiness, the Dalai Lama on December 21st, 2021 in McLeodganj. He also happened to meet the members of Tibet's Government in Exile in Dharmshala. 
2. It is also being said by many external affairs experts that China is playing similar mind games with India as it was playing with Taiwan for a long time along with its supporters from the west. India also has supporters in the west. China is breaching Taiwan's space since the dawn of 2022. 

China's New Border Law: Impact on India

The Indian Foreign Ministry seems to be in no mood to respond to these psy-ops of China and would not be cutting any slack to Beijing now that it has tried to rename places in India's territory. It is seemingly difficult to bear with such practices of the neighbour, but India has shown restraint on all parts, be it speech or action. It however has also maintained that mere renaming places would not serve the purpose of the invasive neighbour and is just a play with the Indian sentiments. 

It may also be notable that China is a country that has border issues with every neighbour it has.

Although the current move of renaming or the new border laws is not affecting India directly it is also noticeable that China and India share a disputed 3,488-km boundary, which is the third-longest among China’s 22,457-km land boundaries with 14 countries. This data would hold value if the borders with Mongolia and Russia are deleted.

Besides India, Bhutan (477 km) is another country in South Asia with which China has a disputed land border.

It is also suspected that China may stall further negotiations with India on the standoff in eastern Ladakh as well.  The Brookings article in November said “Beijing appears to be signalling a determination to resolve the border disputes on its preferred terms. The law sets an overall tone of resolve upfront.”

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