India and China only last month discussed bilateral relations at the highest level when President Xi Jinping visited India. During Mr Xi’s visit, Chinese soldiers crossed the Line of Actual Control (LAC) into the Indian side and went back following urgings many days after the Chinese leader returned home. If this was not a satisfactory experience for India, last Wednesday Beijing reacted sharply against India’s plans to build an 1,800-km road in Arunachal Pradesh along the McMahon Line.
Beijing’s logic is that India should not build as in its view Arunachal is mostly Chinese territory. By that logic, India should not build schools and hospitals either. It can’t pass notice, however, that China’s stand is not consistent with what it is doing in PoK, where it is building roads and other installations. In Aksai Chin, also part of the old J&K state, China has all-weather roads.
In truth, it appears that Beijing is keen on setting up roads and other infrastructure, including military facilities, in Tibet and elsewhere to be able to quickly access the border regions in a military emergency, but does not wish India to pursue similar aims.
India’s road-building plan was announced by minister of state for home affairs Kiren Rijiju just two days before the meet in India of the officials of the two countries on the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs. Was the announcement, then, a coincidence? Or, is India working to a plan?
