In a fresh challenge for India in its northern border, China on Saturday implemented its new border law.
Sources said from now on China is likely to dig in its heels at the current disputed positions at the Line of Actual Control and will come up with more model border villages — to be used both for military and civilian purposes.
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Making a provocative assertion, China on December 30, 2021 renamed 15 places of Arunachal Pradesh in their map.
Major General Ashok Kumar (Retd) said, “The new land border law is the latest attempt by China to unilaterally delineate and demarcate territorial boundaries with India and Bhutan.”
Explaining how this law has huge implications for India, Major General Kumar said that by bringing in such a law, and in conjunction with accelerated construction of 624 “Xiaokong” known as model villages along and inside the disputed land boundaries with India, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has created conditions for a ‘militarised solution’ to the boundary issue.
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“It is a hybrid unconventional warfare methodology, applied for taking over illegal control of sovereign spaces of other states and gets converted into a legalistic nation-building exercise which brooks no opposition,” he said.
On October 23, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s top legislative body passed a new law citing “protection and exploitation of the country’s land border areas”.
The committee had stated that the new law will come into effect from January 1.
The law is not meant specifically for the border with India. China shares its 22,457-km land boundary with 14 countries including India, the third longest after the borders with Mongolia and Russia.
The new border law has 62 articles and seven chapters. As per the law, the People’s Republic of China shall set up boundary markers on all its land borders to clearly mark the border.
The type of marker is to be decided in agreement with the relevant neighbouring state.
The law further stated that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and Chinese People’s Armed Police Force will maintain security along the border. This responsibility includes cooperating with local authorities in combating illegal border crossings.