Why has Beijing renamed many places in Arunachal Pradesh? How has India reacted?
the story So Far: On December 30, China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs said it has issued “standardized” names for 15 places in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. The names are now to be used on all official Chinese documents and maps, which show Arunachal as “South Tibet”. India responded by saying that “assigning invented names” would not change the status of Arunachal Pradesh on the ground or as an integral part of India. The release of the names came ahead of a new land boundary law that came into force on January 1, 2022, about which India has also expressed concerns.
What’s Behind the Move to Release the ‘Standardized’ Name?
In 2017, Chinese authorities issued six “official” names for places in Arunachal Pradesh for the first time. That move was seen as a retaliation after the Dalai Lama visited the state at the time. The new list is more detailed. It has 15 names, which include eight cities, four mountains, two rivers and a hill pass, covering 11 districts in Arunachal from Tawang in the west to Anjou in the east. After the names are released, all official Chinese maps will have to mark the places using the list of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. The naming is a largely symbolic gesture that will not change the facts on the ground. However, it is indicative of a broader new Chinese approach to territorial disputes. Zhang Yongpan, a leading Chinese expert on border issues at the official Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told official media that the nomenclature, along with a new land border law, was “an important step taken by the country to protect national sovereignty, to better maintain Important steps taken were the management of border issues at the legal level amid national security and regional tensions, including conflicts with India.
What is the importance of the new law?
Proposed in March 2021, a year in crisis along the Line of Actual Control, the border law, which took effect on January 1, 2022, assigns various responsibilities to civil and military officials in China to take steps to “protect national sovereignty”. lists. The law has 62 articles in seven chapters, covering border lines and border defense for immigration, border management, and trade. The release of the new names pertains to Article 7, which calls for the promotion of border education at all levels of government. Article 22 calls on the Chinese military to conduct border exercises and to “resolutely prevent, prevent and fight” what it calls “aggression, encroachment and provocation”.
What will be its effect on the India-China border dispute?
The overarching purpose of the land boundary law, in New Delhi’s view, is to give legal cover to and formalize Chinese military violations across the LAC in 2020. The border law also gives civil agencies in China new incentives to move. Building out infrastructure including “border villages” in border areas including some disputed areas along the border with India and Bhutan, the only two countries with which China has unstable land borders. Under the Border Village Construction Plan launched in 2017, China is building 628 “first-line and second-line villages” in border areas and moving residents, mainly herdsmen, to new dwellings along the borders of India, Bhutan and Nepal. Moving to live in. ,
In November 2021, satellite images emerged showing a second Chinese cluster of 60 newly built houses, which India sees as its territory in Arunachal Pradesh, about 100 km east of another village built in late 2020. The area in question has been under Chinese control since then. In 1959 and earlier there were Chinese military installations, but civilian constructions were seen as further reinforcing Chinese claims and essentially as a complete accomplishment in respect of land that is still disputed and both subject to negotiation by the parties.
In October 2021, India expressed concern over the new law, stating that “China’s unilateral decision to introduce a law that could impact our existing bilateral arrangement on border management … is a matter of concern to us”.
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