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Amid row over missing boy China reaffirms claim on India's Arunachal Pradesh

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Message Abdus-Sattar Ghazali
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Amid row over the missing of a 17-year-old Arunachal youth, Miram Tarom, allegedly kidnapped by China's PLA army, Beijing has not only denied any knowledge about the missing boy but reaffirmed its historic claim over the entire 90,000-square-km Arunachal Pradesh that it calls South Tibet.

Speaking to reporters in Beijing Friday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said: "Zangnan (southern part of Xizang) is China's territory. China always opposes India's illegal encroachment of Zangnan. The PLA controls the border according to law & cracks down on illegal border entry & exit."

China refers to India's northeastern Arunachal Pradesh state as Zangnan, and claims it to be part of the southern part of the Tibet region.

China's Friday's remark had a noticeable difference from a day earlier when it said that it was not aware of the disappearance of Miram Tarom.

Tarom, a native of Zido village in the district, was allegedly kidnapped on January 18 from a jungle in Siyungla area, where he had gone for hunting along with his friend Jhonny Yaying (27), according to Indian officials.

According to news agency ANI, the Indian Army has contacted the People's Liberation Army (PLA) for assistance. "Assistance from the PLA has been sought to locate the individual on their side and return him as per established protocol," a local official told ANI.

India and China have frequently clashed over their lengthy and disputed Himalayan border, and Beijing claims 90,000 sq km of areas in Arunachal Pradesh as part of the territory of China and calls it Zangnan or south Tibet.

Recently, China renamed 15 places in Arunachal Pradesh to reaffirm its claim on the state. The 15 places, which the Chinese government renamed, included eight residential places, four mountains, two rivers and a mountain pass in Arunachal Pradesh.

What is the dispute all about?

The essential dispute is over China's refusal to acknowledge the McMohan Line as the border between the two nations, and staking claim to large tracts of land as a contiguous part of Tibet.

In the late 1950s, soon after occupying Tibet, China occupied a large tract (approximately 38,000 square km) of Aksai Chin, a remote part of Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir bordering Pakistan, and built a highway (National Highway 219) through it to connect with its eastern province of Xinjiang. India considers this an illegal occupation.

The British rulers in India convened in 1914 a tripartite meeting at Shimla with Tibetan and Chinese delegates to negotiate a treaty defining the border. The accord gave China control over most of Tibet, and the boundary defined in this treaty was later known as the McMohan line. The British, and subsequently the government of India, saw this as the official border with Tibet.

But while the 1914 treaty was initialed by the three parties, Beijing later reneged, saying the 'provincial government' of Tibet had no right to sign such an accord. It then went on to stake claim to huge areas of land surrounding Tibet, including Aksai Chin in the west and Arunachal Pradesh in the east.

In October last, China introduced a new Land Border Law, which came into force on January 1, 2022. The new Land Border Law indicates China's resolve to manage its demarcated boundaries with other nations and seek settlement of the boundary disputes with India and Bhutan.

Its emphasis on the development of villages in the border areas and the role of civilians in protecting the sovereignty indicates that China would expand settlements all along its disputed boundaries with India and Bhutan, according to Indian analysts.

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Author and journalist. Author of Islamic Pakistan: Illusions & Reality; Islam in the Post-Cold War Era; Islam & Modernism; Islam & Muslims in the Post-9/11 America. Currently working as free lance journalist. Executive Editor of American (more...)
 
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