China and India restart attempts to settle border

China and India have announced a new round of talks over their long and disputed border, following further tensions.

The new talks are not, strictly speaking, new – they are rescheduled from late November, when Beijing cancelled discussions over India's hosting of a conference attended by the Dalai Lama.

A host of issues are expected to be addressed in the fifteenth round of negotiations, which will be conducted by the respective Special Representatives Dai Bingguo and Shivshankar Menon. The land border between them, which is around 4,000km long, is disputed in both the west and the east. In the west, China does not recognise India's claims to Jammu and Kashmir; in the east, the two sides disagree over the status of the Indian state of Arunchal Pradesh.

India has also accused China of constructing military infrastructure in the border regions and boosting its troop presence there. Recently, a senior Indian general announced that in July 2011 Chinese forces damaged a wall along the border, which VK Singh dismissed as “a childish act” and said that in the event of a serious incident, “there will be enough noise and bloodshed and everyone will come to know”.

For some time the Special Representatives have failed to make headway on demarcating the border. Neither side appears to be willing to risk the political damage that would occur from compromising over territory. As border incidents remain rare, both Beijing and New Delhi seem to prefer to leave the status quo in place whilst they concentrate on building their bilateral relationship.

China has struck a conciliatory tone over the border, with Special Representative Bingguo insisting that disputes should be settled “wisely, calmly and properly”.

Sources: Times of India, Wall Street Journal

India and China cancel border talks after Dalai Lama row

China and India have cancelled a round of talks to settle their border dispute after India allowed the Dalai Lama to participate in a global Buddhist conference.

Beijing insisted that New Delhi block the exiled Tibetan leader's speech at the conference; it refused to do so and cancelled this week's dialogue instead. Both Indian and Chinese officials did not address the issue publicly, stating simply that the date of the next round of talks was still being decided; however, the Indian ambassador to Beijing was reportedly brought back to New Delhi for consultations.

China regularly criticises governments which host the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet's Buddhists and a man who the Communist Party considers to be a dangerous troublemaker and separatist. He has lived in India since fleeing Tibet in 1959, although the Indian government is wary of allowing him to use the country as a base for political opposition to China.

The cancellation of talks comes at a time when the two sides are making substantial progress towards settling their disputed border, a major source of tension as both emerge on to the world stage. They have been developing “Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on Border Affairs” to resolve disputes which occur along the boundary line.

Tensions persist along the border, however. China is apparently angry at Indian plans to develop a Mountain Strike Corps of 100,000 soldiers to be deployed along the border; India, for its part, is concerned about the development of Chinese infrastructure near the boundary line, which could be used for military purposes.

Despite the postponement of talks both sides are keen to insist that cooperation will continue. India's Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna said on 30th November that defence talks, scheduled for December, would go ahead.

Sources: The Hindu, Voice of America

India and China agree to new border mechanism

Asia's two most powerful states have agreed to establish a new institutionalised mechanism to manage their lengthy land border, amid growing disputes over boundaries at sea.

On 6th October India's Defence Minister A.K. Antony told journalists that New Delhi and Beijing were working on setting up a new process involving diplomatic and military agencies from both sides, and that the mechanism would be up and running within around three months.

A new system to resolve border disputes is sorely needed. India regularly accuses Chinese forces of entering its territory, which China denies. The two sides fought a brief but bloody border war in the Himalayas in 1962, and the border between them is still hotly disputed. China claims most of the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh in northeastern India, arguing that the McMahon Line which Tibet concluded with the British Empire in 1914 – and which now serves as the de facto border between India and China - was invalid.

The situation along the line of control in India's northeast remains tense. New Delhi has recently announced plans to boost the number of troops in the region by up to 50,000, as well as building airstrips near the border. Beijing has warned that a military build-up would be destabilising for the region, but has been accused of increasing its own presence there. In September, India accused Chinese air and ground forces of violating its territory.

The new proposed mechanism would reinforce the existing arrangements, in which ad hoc meetings of military officials, diplomats or expert groups are organised to discuss any pressing issues. The new arrangement, however, will bring all these groups together in a regular process. The inclusion of diplomatic policymakers is vital for keeping the situation under control and informing the central governments of both states.

It is not clear exactly when the mechanism will come into force but it seems that both sides acknowledge the need to reduce tensions there. Smoothing relations over the 3,500 km land border would be a positive note in the Sino-Indian relationship, currently undergoing tensions over disputed maritime boundaries in the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean.

India is working closely with southeast Asian states as a counterweight to China, which has alarmed smaller countries with its aggressive claims to sovereignty over the sea and its associated resource bonanza. Meanwhile India has watched with concern as China builds up its economic and military presence in a 'string of pearls' around the Indian Ocean, including Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Pakistan.

Sources: The Diplomat, The Hindu

China and India agree to restore defence ties, despite border dispute

Indian PM Singh (L) and Chinese PM Wen in 2008

India and China have agreed to restore defence ties after meetings between Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese prime minister Wen Jiabao on Monday 11th April.

Defence ties were suspended last year after China refused a visa to a Kashmir-based general. In July 2010, Northern Army Commander Lt Gen BS Jaswal was prevented from joining a delegation to Beijing because he served in Jammu and Kashmir.

China and India have a number of long running border disputes, but both sides agreed to work together to resolve tensions along their 3,500km long shared border.

Two areas are disputed. Aksai Chin is administered by China as part of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, however India claims it as part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Arunachal Pradesh, a state in the far northeast of India is also disputed, and China claims that it is a part of South Tibet.

The two sides fought a brief border war in 1962, and several rounds of talks over the border in the past few years have made little real progress. India remains suspicious of China's ties to Pakistan, and both sides seem largely unwilling to compromise on territorial questions. Despite this, ties have been relatively strong in recent years, and China is now India's largest trading partner.

Speaking on Wednesday 14th April, India's National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon said the two sides would set up a consultation mechanism for the border dispute.

"This will handle important border affairs relating to maintaining peace and tranquility," Menon said, though he added that "in practice it is one of the most peaceful borders that we have."

Menon said that a multi-command Indian Army delegation would visit China later in the year, likely in June, and suggested joint exercises could be held at some point in the future.

The two countries have also agreed to boost economic ties, and address the currently assymetrical trade relationship. Menon said of Singh, "The PM spoke of taking our relationship to a higher level, focusing more on cross-investment, and also spoke of China providing better market access for Indian exports, particularly in IT, pharmaceuticals, agricultural products and in the engineering sectors."

Singh is in China as part of a formal summit of the “BRICS” countries, which along with China and India includes Brazil, Russia and South Africa. The summit is being held in Sanya, southern China on 14th April.

Sources: BBC News, Xinhua, Economic Times, International Business Times

For more information, please see the Menas Borders website, here.

China dedicated to good relations with India, despite military budget rise: spokesman

NCP spokesman Li Zhaoxing

The Chinese government is dedicated to maintaining good relations with India, despite increasing its defence budget by over 12 per cent, a top official from the Chinese parliament said on Friday 4th March.

The comments came a day before the start of the National People's Congress's (NPC) annual session, which seems likely to approve a 12.7 per cent increase in the country's defence budget, a move which has caused concern among some of China's neighbours.

Responding to questions about whether China's defence budget increase would put pressure on its neighbours, such as India, Li Zhaoxing, chairman of the NPC's Foreign Affairs Committee said that China and India have reached a consensus on maintaining the peace and tranquillity of their border areas until the border issues are solved.

Mr Li added that the increase will result in a military budget of 601 billion yuan (US$91.5 billion), which only amounts to 1.4 per cent of GDP. India's defence budget is also set to rise considerably this year, up 11.6 per cent to US$35 billion. As Mr Li pointed out, the Indian budget is higher as a proportion of GDP than China's. The US has a military budget of $725 billion.

Mr Li also said that China wanted to move forward with talks with India. “We seek to advance the negotiations … process on a settlement framework, so as to resolve the boundary question which has been created and left over by history,”

“At present, there are friendly and stable relations between China and India. This has created a good atmosphere for the two sides to resolve the boundary question through consultations,” he said.

Li said China and India had held 14 rounds of meetings since 2003 in an effort to speed up negotiations for an early solution to border issues.

"China attaches great importance to friendly relations with neighbors. ... Seeking peace, cooperation and development is a shared view of all Asian people, including the people of China and India," he said.

The Chinese government said on Friday that it was ready to take forward the negotiations with India over the long-running border dispute, and that the two countries' relationship was now stable enough for a settlement to be reached.

Many analysts believe that the declared budget is only a small proportion of what China actually spends on its military power. Many believe that the increase is a sign of China's desire to put pressure on its military competitors, both regionally and globally.

India is not the only regional power that China has territorial issues with. According to India's Economic Times, on Thursday 3rd March, Japan scrambled military jets after Chinese naval airplanes flew near disputed islands in the East China Sea, although the Chinese did not enter Japan's airspace.

The disputed islands, known in China as the Diaoyu islands and in Japan as the Senakaku islands, have long been disputed by the two sides. The capture of a Chinese boat captain in disputed waters by Japanese patrols in September 2010 drove relations to the lowest levels in years.

The South China Sea dispute has also heated up, with the Philippines demanding an explanation from China over a recent incident in which it says two Chinese patrol boats threatened to ram a survey ship.

China has taken steps to resolve many of its residual border issues. It appears that maritime disputes and issues with India will, however, be harder to solve.

Sources: Economic Times, Xinhua, Times of India, The Hindu

For more information, please see the Menas Borders website, here.