Q+A-India and China's disputed border

Thu Sep 17, 2009

By Alistair Scrutton and Emma Graham-Harrison

NEW DELHI/BEIJING, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Here are some questions and answers about the Indian-Chinese border, the source this year of increasing tension between the two Asian powers.

WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF THE BORDER DISPUTE?

Both still claim vast swathes of each other's territory along their 3,500 km (2,173 mile) Himalayan border after a 1962 war.

Chinese troops overran Indian military positions in parts of the Buddhist region of Ladakh and the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh before a ceasefire.

China withdrew to pre-war positions dividing the two countries along Arunachal Pradesh and now lays claim to 90,000 sq km of land on the eastern sector of this border that Beijing sees as "southern" Tibet. It kept 38,000 sq km of Ladakh, an area about the size of Taiwan, on the western stretch.

India also says Beijing is illegally holding 5,180 sq km of northern Kashmir ceded to it by Pakistan in 1963.

The ceasefire line became known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The two sides cannot even agree on the location of the LAC.

WHY IS THE BORDER IN THE NEWS AGAIN?

Indian media and some military commanders report a rise in the number of Chinese troop incursions, something denied by New Delhi.

Beijing has declined direct comment on the reports, as they often do on military issues, but questioned their accuracy and says it sticks firmly to a consensus that the two nations will "make joint efforts" to safeguard peace and tranquility.

This has coincided with growing disquiet over other issues. China is outspoken in its opposition to many of the activities of Tibet's spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who is exiled in India.

He plans to visit a 400-year-old Buddhist monastery in Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh state in November, a place claimed by China. Beijing sees this as a deliberate provocation.

India in turn says China upped the tension by opposing a $60 million Asian Development Bank loan for a project in Arunachal Pradesh.

ARE THERE INCURSIONS?

The main problem is that much of the border, criss-crossing remote mountainous areas, is not demarcated. So one man's patrol is another man's incursion.

What experts say, though, is that Chinese patrols have increased in quality and frequency along with improved infrastructure, like modern highways, along the border. So the Chinese presence is, at least, "felt" more by India.

Some analysts say the news of incursions reflects leaks by an Indian military worried about the Chinese army's growing mobility and strength in the area. India lags China both in terms of infrastructure work and military strength.

China may have increased patrols to counter what it sees as an Indian military border buildup, and to more tightly monitor the borders of Tibet and Xinjiang regions, after outbreaks of deadly ethnic violence in both areas.

ARE POLITICIANS TO BLAME?

In India, the border issue can easily become a political football that the opposition can use against the Congress-led government, accusing leaders of not doing enough against Chinese influence. The 1962 war is burned into the Indian psyche, a defeat that still has New Delhi wary of Beijing.

China currently has little interest in stoking tensions, as it has been trying in recent years to reassure nervous Western nations that its economic rise will not be matched by military expansion; diplomats like to talk of "peaceful development".

It also celebrates 60 years of communist rule on Oct 1, and the government wants to keep media and public attention focused on parades and parties in Beijing.

COULD THERE BE ANOTHER WAR?

Highly unlikely. Both sides are enjoying booming trade and any conflict would cause a huge amount of damage to their increasingly globalised economies.

But the border conflict is one of the major issues that stops the two Asian powers from drawing closer together.

WILL THERE BE A SOLUTION TO THE BORDER ISSUE?

Probably not, at least in the short to medium term. The two countries have widely divergent positions on the border and 13 rounds of talks since 2005 have yielded no results.