China offering bribes to move to disputed Indian border region

CHINA is bribing local people with homes and subsidies to persuade them to move to newly built villages in the border territory disputed with India.

Tensions have been ramping up along the border, known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC), over the past year, with both sides building their military presence as Beijing aggressively pushes its territorial claims.

Tapir Gao, a member of parliament from India’s ruling BJP, said China had built houses on Indian land.

“China has occupied our territory... They have built more than 100 houses,” Mr Gao said, citing a new village on the banks of the River Tsari Chu in the Upper Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh.

It has been reported that officials believe China is constructing more than 600 such villages along the LAC.

The area is remote, with harsh weather, but the villages are said to include good roads, water, electricity and a communication network.

A resident of one border defence village was quoted as saying that he received various subsidies amounting to 30,000 yuan (£3,500) a year to live there, according to the Vivekananda International Foundation think tank.

“China lures locals by providing them with better living facilities so that they come to live in the disputed border areas and create permanent settlements. By doing so, China grabs our land and claims sovereign rights on the disputed land,” said Konchok Stanzin, a councillor in India’s Ladakh region.

Similar views were echoed by several locals in Arunachal Pradesh. These villages have a “dual use”, Mr Stanzin suggested – as permanent residential settlements on disputed land and as military stations in times of hostilities. He is pressing New Delhi to invest in similar infrastructure along the border.

Despite the testimony from local residents and politicians, the Indian government denies that China has built on Indian territory.

Opposition Congress leader Manish Tiwari said: “The BJP is trapped in their own rhetoric of muscular nationalism. And now, when the Chinese have been sitting inside Indian territory for the past 15 months, the BJP is unable to tell the truth to the nation because it would mean they have conceded Indian territory to China. All kinds of excuses are being trotted out, like that China are only building on their side of the LAC.”

Mr Tiwari suggested this played into Beijing’s hands as it allowed them to continue their tactics unchallenged.

China watcher Brahma Chellaney said the situation in the Himalayas was looking like the South China Sea, where China has been pushing expansionist policies and building in disputed areas.

“The village-building spree is designed with a purpose: By creating civilian settlements in desolate, previously uninhabited border areas that are disputed or were forcibly occupied by it, China is seeking to assert its rights under international law. In other words, it has undertaken unlawful action with the intent of legitimising its territorial claims,” said Mr Chellaney.

On Oct 24, China passed a new law that essentially empowers the state to improve infrastructure in border areas and enable the settlement of people. It will come into effect from Jan 1.

“These villages are part of China’s legal warfare and the new borderland law will provide a legal basis to these villages,” said Pravin Sawhney, one of India’s top strategic analysts. “It means China will stake a legal claim on all the territory that China considers its sovereign territory, like they consider Arunachal Pradesh to be south Tibet.”

Reports state China has provided 30.1 billion yuan for these villages.

The People’s Liberation Army is also conducting regular tank exercises near the LAC and has blocked Indian troops from carrying out patrols at flashpoints in the Depsang plains, an area China claims beyond the 1959 line, a senior Indian army official told The Daily Telegraph on condition of anonymity. The show of strength follows the recent failure of the 13th round of talks between Beijing and Delhi over the Himalayan border region. It means that instead of removing forces from the border over the harsh winter, as many as 50,000 Indian soldiers will stay on the line for a second year.

“These are psychological operations. We are prepared for the war if it is imposed on us,” said the army officer.