Form of words:
New Delhi: Last week, China passed a new law – the Land Boundary Act – that will come into force from January 1 and is expected to present a major challenge to India, which has a volatile 3,488-km border with the country.
The law, passed by Beijing on Saturday, relates to the country’s patrolling activities along its 22,100-km land border with 14 neighboring countries, and is considered the first such policy step in the modern history of China.
According to the new law, “effective measures to strengthen the state border defense construction, support the economic and social development of the border and open it to the outside world, promote action to strengthen the border and enrich the people of the border”. , improve the level of border public services and infrastructure construction, improve border production and living conditions, and encourage and support border residents in border production and life, and border defense construction and border economy and society. Promote integrated development.
According to Beijing, the law was passed to “protect national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity”, while promoting “good neighborly friendships and exchanges and cooperation” with the countries with which it lands. shares a boundary.
The law has raised some curiosity amid India’s year-long border dispute with China in Ladakh. continues Despite disruption at some stand-off sites. While some experts say the law suggests a hardening of China’s negotiating stance, others believe it is “hot air”.
Gautam Bambawale, India’s former ambassador to Beijing and Thimphu, told ThePrint that the law “is too many words. This is very hot air. It doesn’t change the ground reality.”
“By its military actions beginning in May 2020, China has shown that it wants to settle the border with India not through dialogue but by the use of force. India has given him a befitting reply. India-China relations have deteriorated in the last months since May 2020. If this new law was a message to India, I fear it has fallen flat on its face as it does not change the situation on the ground at all. added.
Last June, Indian and Chinese soldiers clash Galwan Valley in Eastern Ladakh. India lost 20 soldiers, while the number of Chinese casualties is not yet clear.
In September 2020, during a meeting between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, the two sides agreed to revisit and review five existing boundary agreements. confidence building measures.
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‘New law very important from Indian perspective’
Explaining the specific provisions of the new law, Manoj Kewalramani, Fellow – China Studies at Taxila Institution said, “The new law is extremely important from the Indian point of view. India is one of two countries that share a disputed land border with the People’s Republic, and the law will take effect.
Kewalramani, Jr. is also the author of Smokeless war: China’s quest for geopolitical dominance, Article 1 of the policy talks about “delimitation and demarcation of land boundaries”, and Article 4, which states that “sovereignty and territorial integrity” are “sacred and non-violent”, takes a “harsh stance”. There are signs that China will take. On border talks when it comes to India.
“It is a comprehensive law that not only deals with border security and development, but also manages, and authorizes key agencies for specific tasks. It is partly a legal framework to establish, identify tasks and responsibilities. And there is an effort to set up a framework authorizing government action,” he said.
He said another aspect of the law – Article 10 – calls for border security and coordinated development of the economy.
“This includes strengthening border defence, supporting economic and social development along the border areas, and improving public services and infrastructure in the areas. It provides a strong legal framework and provides impetus for work relating to border villages that have been built across Tibet,” he said.
Chinese scholar and researcher Antara Ghoshal Singh, who was earlier with the Center for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP), said that the land boundary law in China has been in discussion for some time. Singh said the key drivers are interest in bringing about uniformity and standardization and preventing contradictions in China’s border management policies and regulations at the central and provincial levels.
“It’s part of China’s Western development strategy, which has been around since the 90s. More precisely on Tibet, they want to build a ‘South Asian Grand Passage’,” Singh said.
Read also: Neither MoD nor MHA can resolve unacceptable situation on Indo-Tibetan border
discussion of separation
Both India and China have held discussions at the military as well as diplomatic level, based on the five existing protocols on border management implemented since 1993.
there are agreements 1993 Agreement on the maintenance of peace and tranquility along the Line of Actual Control in the India-China border areas; NS 1996 Agreement on Confidence Building Measures in the Military Sector along the LAC; NS 2005 Protocol on Modalities for Implementation of Confidence Building Measures in Military Sector along the LAC; NS 2012 Agreement on the establishment of a working mechanism for consultation and coordination on India-China border matters; And this 2013 Border Defense Cooperation Agreement.
According to a former R&AW official, who wished not to be named, the law only ensures that the Chinese stance of talks will become “harder and more rigid” and will not change its tensions with India.
Earlier this month, China and Bhutan Signed a Memorandum of Understanding to speed up border negotiations.
(Edited by Polomi Banerjee)
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