CHINA-INDIA: CHINA CONSTRUCTS BORDER DEFENCE VILLAGE IN DISPUTED TERRITORY IN ARUNACHAL PRADESH

After reports surfaced in the Indian media about the construction of a new border defence village on the banks of the River Tsari Chu in the Upper Subansiri district, approximately 4.5 kms within Indian territory, the MEA issued a statement suggesting that the village was built “along” the border. Responding to Indian media reports China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson said “First, I'd like to tell you that China's position on the eastern sector of the China-India boundary, or Zangnan (the southern part of China's Tibet), is consistent and clear. We have never recognized the so-called ‘Arunachal Pradesh’ illegally established on the Chinese territory. China’s normal construction on its own territory is entirely a matter of sovereignty.”  Global Times, meanwhile, quoted Qian Feng, Director of the Research Department at the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University, as saying that “China and India haven't demarcated the borderline of this area yet. So they cannot accuse China of building a village on the Indian side.” It also quoted Zhang Yongpan, a research fellow of the Institute of Chinese Borderland Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), as saying that “It's absurd for the Indian government to use this line (McMahon Line) to determine the territory administered by China and India. Indian media should not bring about the issue when the country is still plagued by the serious situation of a COVID-19 pandemic.”

(Comment: A detailed report on China's construction of border defence villages and their implications was issued by the CCAS in September 2019 and can be accessed on its website.)






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