Global Times (March 13) said that An Ran, a professor at South China University of Technology in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province, who is also a deputy to the National People's Congress, had proposed that the country allow residents in the border area with India to trade to improve China-India relations, reduce military confrontations and benefit the local inhabitants. He said this could also showcase the achievements of China's Tibet Autonomous Region to India and other countries. He said that the proposal was based on field work conducted by a group of researchers from Yunnan University in Southwest China. Yunnan Province borders the Tibet region, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar. Professor Guo Jianbin, the group's team leader, told the Global Times that his team went to some counties, including Lhozhag, Lhunze in Shannan Prefecture and Medog and Zayu in the city of Nyingchi, South Tibet in July and August 2018, and found that because the militaries of China and India in the illegal "McMahon Line" are tight, residents in the border areas are not allowed to cross the line freely. However, in some areas, some residents, mainly those from the Lhoba ethnic minority group, have crossed the "line" to trade. He added "we found that the villages in the border areas have wide roads and a clean environment. If China allows residents living on the other side to trade, all these achievements and developments will help better unite the residents in border areas." Hu Zhiyong, a research fellow at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of International Relations, told the Global Times on Wednesday that the move could help deepen understanding between China and India. He added "Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi may welcome it to gain support in the elections", however, China should watch India's moves as India has been suspicious and hostile toward China.
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