China’s New Border Law and India- China tensions
The new border law titled “Land Border Law of People’s Republic of China” passed in late October 2021 by the standing committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s top legislative body. It has once again fired up the controversies around borders and boundaries between India and China after a long military stand- off. The border between India and China is the most covertly tensed area in the world.
A border is a zone between two states, nations or civilizations. It is often an area where people, nations and cultures intermingle and share deep contacts with one another. Now China has drafted a blueprint to solidify its borders. As reported by the state-run media Xinhua agency, the border law clearly states that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China are ‘sacred and inviolable’. The core intention behind the said border law is to protect its exteriors and exploit the border regions simultaneously. The legislation will come into force from 1st January, 2022. Thereafter, the Chinese borders will undergo a dramatic reconditioning. The new border law is China’s third such endeavor after a Maritime Traffic Safety Law which adheres to the principles of safety first, prevention first, convenient traffic and legal management to ensure the safety, order and undisrupted flow of maritime traffic. And a Coast Guard Law applied to the maritime security enforcement activities undertaken by maritime police agencies in and above the jurisdiction under PRC [1].
China shares its border with 14 countries spanning around 22,457 kms. The boundary line conjoint to India is third largest after Mongolia and Russia. Among these China has a discernible disputed boundary only with India (i.e., 3488 kms) and Bhutan (i.e., 477 kms). The border law made its way amid excruciating tensions between China and its neighbors. Chinese legislators confirm that the law is not in picture to deal with any one neighbor but to exhibit a more assertive Chinese standpoint. This is an attempt by the Chinese administration to keep its borders stable on its proposed terms and manoeuvre negotiations as per their whims and fancies.
The new law covers extensive delimitation exercises and well documented surveys of China’s land borders to delineate the lines with sufficient markers. Other features include management and security of the border which is endowed to People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and Chinese People’s Armed Police Force. The law suggests the armed forces to cooperate with the local authorities at the border for an enhanced surveillance and combat illegal border crossings. The burden to safeguard border is shared by the military and civilians located nearby. This manifestation of civil- military nexus include local authorities to allocate resources to strengthen the formation of ‘mass defense groups’ to augment border defense missions. Security analysts advocate that these mass defense groups mean deployment of local residents to assist in missions including information gathering, order maintenance, and territorial defense [2]. Xinhua agency disclosed that China is pushing to develop border areas, improving public services and infrastructure in such areas, encouraging civilians to settle and work there. Therefore, maintaining military supervision with socio- economic development in the border areas in turn seeking to nurture the sense of community of China, to promote the spirit of China, solidify citizen’s sense of country and homeland security and build a common spiritual home for the Chinese nation amongst the people settled near border areas.
Beijing is very clever in its attempt to take control of fragile borders by constructing ‘border villages’ or ‘border towns’ [3]. This is classic move as in previous years also, China has reclaimed islands in South China Sea by creating ‘border establishments’ with burgeoning communities called Chinese fishing fleets. It came into light that the Chinese government intends to construct 624 such towns or villages in the disputed areas of Himalayas as part of a poverty alleviation program. This appears to be a highly successful strategy because the more development China adopts at its disputed borders the more eyes it has for intelligence gathering providing an upper hand in times of direct confrontations. The border law allows the frontier villages to adopt all kinds of combative methods to secure border in short turning them into militia bases. Since 2016, China has augmented the budget set aside for the infrastructure development at borders. The practice of border villages was in place even before any border law; however, it would be beneficial to have a legislative enforcement now.
The law aims to resolve border disputes in a hassle-free manner. The state must follow principles of ‘equality, mutual trust and friendly consultations’ for a longstanding solution. The military and bureaucracy must work together with the neighboring countries to wipe out three evils of terrorism, separatism and religious extremism. The law also states that the border shall be sealed during incidents of an armed conflict, war, biological and chemical accidents, epidemics or natural disasters.
Under the law, a party is prohibited from any such activity in the border area which would endanger national security or spoil China’s friendly relations with its neighbors in any which way. This includes prohibition of construction of permanent buildings by a person without authorization from the concerned authority. And this requires close cooperation between citizens, local authorities and government agencies. Above provision of the law is a quick- witted move by China because now it can firmly oppose construction of border infrastructure by India without the permission of the government in Beijing.
China faces many hindrances along its land and sea border. Except for the recent friction in Galwan Valley in June 2020 with India, its land borders are quiet since early 2000s. China’s maritime agencies have encouraged a sturdy maritime law as sea border is relatively eventful. But after frequent episodes of Sino- Indian confrontations over the recent years, China is motivated to adopt stringent laws for its land borders too. There are other reasons that China decided to bring out such a law. First is to exert greater control over borders to prevent the risk of Covid- 19 spread. Second, with the US backing out and Taliban taking over the Afghan political space, China is concerned about its borders aligning to Central Asian countries specifically the risk is higher in the Xinjiang region.
The law was formulated amid failed negotiations with India after an 18-month long crisis along the LAC. India vehemently rebuked the legislation and urged China not to use this law as an excuse to justify PLA’s atrocities last year along the border. Although the law strictly speaks of negotiations and dialogues to resolve border issues but India seeing the status-quo reprimanded that clause. The law seems to be intimidating as it clearly states that China would not accept any form of compromise when it comes to border areas and will execute force if negotiations fall apart. India has reasonable doubts with respect to the real intentions behind the new border law. China is likely to take advantage of this law for not restoring the peace before Galwan standoff. Now that the border management is ceremonially passed to the PLA, the Indian government believe that talks in future are going to be triple times difficult as compared to the present times. The Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson has expressed this law to be extremely unilateral and it would have long term implications on the existing bilateral arrangements [4]. The tactics of building border defence villages across all sectors of LAC putting them into both civil and military use is a major concern for India. Gradually the civilian settlements will be termed as markers for the boundary lines drawn by China and that would become a complex situation for India at the negotiating table.
Although, China reiterated after India bashed the law that the new legislation would not alter any treaties signed between India and China before. However, the big question for India is that can China be treated as a trusted partner. Its notorious, assertive and expansionist actions in South China Sea are replicated at the land borders in an effort to redraw the existing lines. The border law is used by China as a leverage against India as the latter is a firm believer of diplomatic channels and the ultimate authority to secure Chinese borders is with the military. India sets the record straight that it won’t act offensive by simply initiating act of violence to vacate the infringed territory, expressed by the Ministry of External Affairs, but will prevent further intrusions [5].
The time around which China passed this law is quite prudent. The failed talks between China and India, the evergreening blame game and the fall out between the special representatives from both the countries were the stimulations after which China proceeded with the border law. Although the new border law would not bring drastic changes in the status- quo of Indo- China relations but over the past few years China is indulging in more hostile activities becoming highly problematic for India. The law is stating a very obvious behavior of China, hence, the burden to keep to the border areas peaceful falls on India’s shoulders. The two Asian giants have made many attempts to resolve their decades old border confrontation but a realistic truce has never been achieved. China dismisses even an inch of compromise which is an evil necessity to straighten out a scuffle and will assume a tougher stand when it comes to India.
References:
[1] http://en.moj.gov.cn/
[2] https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2021/11/04/chinas-land-border-law-a-preliminary-assessment/
[3] https://raisinahouse.org/international-affairs/f/china%E2%80%99s-land-boundary-law-and-its-implications
[4] https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/chinas-new-land-border-law-indian-concerns-7592418/
[5] https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/new-china-law-has-made-lac-negotiations-tougher-shyam-saran/articleshow/87545417.cms
Pic Courtsey-IDSA GIS lab
(The views expressed are thoSe of the author and do not represent views of CESCUBE.)
