China/India Border Disputes: Arunachal Pradesh, India or South Tibet

Apr. 14 – With yesterday’s news that China has vetoed plans for an Asian Development Bank loan to India for development of the Arunachal Pradesh region, we take a look at why the region is disputed, where it is, and the commodities and economic benefits possession of the area brings.

The political problems with the region go back to the days of the British Raj, and predate the current government of China’s authority. Indeed, Taiwan claims ownership also under its position as an alleged government of China. Historically, the region was a kingdom, with several mentions of it being made in a number of Vedic texts. It is also mentioned in the Indian epic, the Mahabharata, although it is usually acknowledged that much of the region was a de facto vassal state of Tibet, and that tributes were paid to the Dalai Lama in Lhasa.

Parts of the region however are known to have been administered by Bhutan, and to the east, Burma, until the British annexed India completely in 1858. The region was an important trading route with Lhasa, and connected Tibet to the nearest port, at Calcutta. The sixth Dalai Lama was born in Tawang, in the northwest of the region.

Problems over sovereignty go back therefore to the Chinese claim over Tibet, which was enforced in 1949, and to the “Simla Accord”, of 1914, when China was ruled as a republic, in which representatives of Britain, China, and Tibet were to define the borders. The purpose of the agreement was to designate borders of Inner and Outer Tibet, in addition to borders between Tibet and British India. An 890 kilometer-line was designated as the border. British and Tibetan officials agreed on the demarcation; however the Chinese had issues with the designation of “inner” and “outer” Tibet, and walked out of the discussions. Fast forward to the Chinese civil war, and the Nationalists fleeing to Taiwan, and the Communist Party’s moving into Tibet in 1951. Since then, the Chinese government has made it clear that its position has remained constant, and that it inherited the Nationalist position that the agreement over the borders in 1914 was never agreed to by China. It subsequently has refused to do so, and in 1962 fought a brief border war with India over the territory. China won, but subsequently withdrew from its territorial gains in the region and allowed India to repossess them.

China and Taiwan accordingly jointly claim Arunachal Pradesh as belonging to Tibet and being the province of “South Tibet” as neither signed off on the original border demarcation. India claimed the area as under its sovereignty in 1950, while the Tibetan government in exile continues to identify Arunachal Pradesh as belonging to India and recognizes the Simla Accord and border demarcation between Tibet and India.

Arunachal Pradesh is agriculturally rich, with rice, maize, millet, wheat, pulses, sugarcane, ginger and oil seeds all grown in the region and processed here. The region also has some 61,000 square kilometers of forests, and this represents an important sector of the local economy, however tree felling and saw mills are prohibited on conservation grounds. It is understood part of the disputed loan India was to obtain from the ADB was to deal with water management and ecological problems caused by deforestation on the Chinese side and impacting on Arunachal Pradesh. Limited trade with Tibet has commenced, with roads having been constructed by China up to various borders crossings up to the border, with routes leading back to Lhasa. However, the Indian side remains distrustful of Chinese intentions in the region, and similar infrastructure on the Indian side remains downgraded.