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Friday, March 29, 2024

Chinese Aggression At Tawang

China appears to have made a planned and heavy intrusion in the areas close to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh last week, which was repulsed by the Indian army forthwith. The Chinese have repeatedly forayed into the area to make gains in Arunachal Pradesh near Tawang. This is critical for China because Tawang is the seat of one of the most revered monasteries in Tibetan Buddhism. As a result, the Tawang monastery plays a critical role in Tibetan internal politics.

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China appears to have made a planned and heavy intrusion in the areas close to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh last week, which was repulsed by the Indian army forthwith. The Chinese have repeatedly forayed into the area to make gains in Arunachal Pradesh near Tawang. This is critical for China because Tawang is the seat of one of the most revered monasteries in Tibetan Buddhism. As a result, the Tawang monastery plays a critical role in Tibetan internal politics. Therefore, China’s efforts are to get control of the area and the Tawang monastery to more effectively control Tibet’s internal politics. One has to remember that the Tibetan religious head, Dalai Lama, had come to Tawang and sought his first refuge in the monastery. Now that the Dalai Lama is getting old and a new spiritual head will have to be sworn in after the present Dalai Lama, China is seeking to ensure that its nominee becomes the new Dalai Lama. Getting control of the Tawang monastery before that could give some legitimacy to China’s selection of the following spiritual head for Tibetan Buddhists. These issues apart, China has been nibbling at the line of actual control —the so-called LAC— off and on and has already claimed some victories. China has thus sliced away from India’s part of the border over the years through these small incursions.

Last week’s Chinese attempt to capture some high ground in the areas, only 25 kilometers from Tawang, is the most ambitious and determined. This time, when the winter had set in, the sudden sweep was meant to take possession of grounds to set up an observation post, according to some reports. In the Galwan valley as well, China was seeking to acquire lands on the Indian side to set up observation posts. The Chinese have already set up some villages in the areas adjoining the border, which can quickly be turned into supply bases for the Chinese army. In the Yangtze area near Tawang, the Chinese were working with the same objective. With the observation posts, the Chinese could better monitor the Indian positions and movements. They are interested in tracking Indian preparations in the border areas. The Chinese have so far downplayed the incident apart from a brief mention in the Chinese foreign ministry briefing. This they did only after the statement of the defense minister, Rajnath Singh, in parliament after the incident.

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The release of the details of last week’s incidents by India has been to vindicate the government’s claims of wrong handling of all border incursions. India seems to be taking the Chinese threats seriously and expects these to continue in the future as well. It appears the political circles deliberately highlighted the episode as the Indian army had acted swiftly and gained the upper hand over the Chinese. The Indian opposition parties had all along criticised the government for its lukewarm responses to Chinese incursions. For whatever reasons and results, border clashes with China are expected to continue. The silver lining is that these have remained confined to local levels. Eruption of these on a larger scale could make things rather difficult to control, as has been seen in the disastrous Russian campaign in Ukraine.

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The Hills Times
The Hills Timeshttps://www.thehillstimes.in/
The Hills Times, a largely circulated English daily published from Diphu and printed in Guwahati, having vast readership in hills districts of Assam, and neighbouring Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.
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