Another round in China’s border games

Once again Beijing is playing games over border issues with India by producing a new map which shows the north-eastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh as part of China under the title ‘Southern Tibet’.

There is nothing new in this. These maps have been produced before as I have mentioned in several previous blogs. On this occasion it appears the new edition has been produced to also underline China’s claims over the disputed islands in the South China Sea.

However, it is no coincidence that the map was published during the visit of an Indian trade delegation to Beijing led by Vice-President Hamid Ansari – a delegation which heard from China’s President, Xi Jinping that his country would never bully other nations, no matter how powerful it became.

Of course this placed the delegation in an invidious position – should there be a protest, or should it simply carry on with the mission? In the end Ansari was reported to have made a private protest while conducting business as usual.

There were, of course, vocal reactions elsewhere. A Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson in New Delhi described Arunachal Pradesh as an “inalienable part of India”, while the state’s Chief Minister, Nabam Tuki said he objected to and condemned the claim.

No comment has been forthcoming from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, something which was seized upon by the Opposition Congress Party with spokesman Shakeel Ahmad accusing him of timidity.

However, Modi’s silence may be an even stronger rebuke than a protest, which could be interpreted that India acknowledged there was a dispute that needed to be answered. By saying nothing, he is dismissing the tactic with the contempt it deserves.

The fact is that successive Indian Governments have maintained that however many maps China wishes to produce, the status of Arunachal Pradesh is non-negotiable. It is part of India. End of story.

In May, the people of the state participated in the Indian general election – the biggest exercise in democracy on earth – and sent their representatives to the Lok Sabha (Parliament) in New Delhi. There were no signs in that poll that they wished to swop their right to do this for the centralised, authoritarian system practiced by Beijing.

In the end the map was probably more for home consumption than meant to be taken seriously in the wider world. New Delhi will ignore it while leaving its neighbour in no doubt of the price it would pay should it try to pursue its expansionist ambitions by other means.