Editorial: China repeats old tricks

Given China’s propensity to exert influence around, India must quickly boost Arunachal Pradesh’s infrastructure

Hyderabad: China’s move to rename parts of Arunachal Pradesh is a crude attempt to reaffirm its claim to the state, of which India has been and remains an integral part. The changed names include mountain names, river names and residential area names. The provocative behavior is part of a familiar pattern employed by Beijing to demonstrate its territorial hegemony in the region and beyond. It must be noted that the renaming of some places in the Northeast State will not have any impact on their status. Unilateral attempts to assign fictitious names do not change the underlying reality. This is the third time that China has unilaterally changed the name of a place in Arunachal Pradesh after April 2017 and December 2021. Its penchant for flamboyance is ubiquitous. China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs has openly claimed that it has “normalized” the names of these places in Arunachal Pradesh, calling them “Southern Tibet in southern Tibet”. While sending a clear message to China, India must continue to actively engage with the communist state and not allow friction to deepen further. The military standoff in eastern Ladakh has not been fully resolved since the Chinese invasion in May 2020. The situation came to a head last December when Indian and Chinese troops clashed along the Line of Actual Control border in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang district. It can be seen that the domineering China is determined to make India fearful and provocative step by step.

China’s unprovoked actions have made it imperative for India to quickly strengthen the infrastructure of Arunachal Pradesh. Defense Minister Rajnath Singh launched 28 projects during his visit to the border state in January, including a bridge across the Siyom River to transport tanks and artillery. Over the past few years, China has been ramping up construction on its Himalayan border, raising major security concerns in India. Base construction, including a new dual-use airport, has also accelerated since the Galwan Valley conflict. It is also building islands in the South China Sea and competing for territorial claims of its neighbors in the East China Sea. The Centre’s ‘Vibrant Villages’ program aims to develop over 600 villages and growth centers covering the border regions of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Ladakh, It is an important measure to counter Chinese aggression. However, India still has a long way to go if it is to catch up with China in terms of border infrastructure. Building “vibrant” villages and developing infrastructure along the border is important, and politically signals that the government is seizing the urgency of the border situation, but that alone may not be enough. They must be part of a broader national defense strategy, which should include force modernization.