‘Invented Names’: A Symptom of a Larger Malaise

For the fourth time, China released a tranche of 30 new names for various geographical locations in Arunachal Pradesh. The ‘name game’ played by China to display its displeasure comes in the wake of Prime Minister Modi’s Arunachal visit for the inauguration of the Sela Tunnel. The tunnel, a ‘game changer’ caters to the all-weather access and enables seamless transport of goods and security personnel to the strategically vulnerable border region. Additionally, even the steady development of the border infrastructure backed by a fervent participatory push to bolster the adjoining regions of LAC through the Vibrant Village Programme is not lost on the Chinese.

Iconically, bestowing the much-needed recognition to every inch of the hithertofore, nondescript geography, India has changed the nomenclature of the border villages from the existing “last village of India” to the “first village of India”. Underscoring the importance of the security paradigm, India began defining -Kibithoo, the last village of India in Arunachal as “India’s first village”. Alongside, the Indian administration has ramped up efforts to alter the socio-economic landscape of the border villages. Enhancing the accessibility of the border villages via the Arunachal Frontier Highway (AFH) and 4G connectivity, India is getting ready for the vexatious Chinese trick of shifting cartography.

In response to China’s steady territorial incursions- Doklam, Galwan Valley and Yangtse, matching in scale and robustness, India is strengthening infrastructural depth along the Indo-Tibetan border. China’s latest cartographic intimidation is in response to India’s competitive infrastructural developments as well as its defence preparedness. Even as China downplayed India’s successful Multiple Independently Targettable Reentry Vehicle (MIRV) testing, Beijing has dispatched four vessels to the Indian Ocean Region to monitor the missile manoeuvring. Indeed, Chinese vessels were again spotted near the Indian coast when India announced a Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) during the last week of March.

After the 1962 war, to usurp Tawang, deeming Arunachal Pradesh as South Tibet, China actively employed conventional ‘salami slicing’ to threaten India's territorial integrity. Concomitantly, China started issuing stapled visas to Arunachal Pradesh residents, threatening India with consequences in the wake of Dalai Lama’s visit to the state and denying visas to Arunachal’s Wushu players for Hangzhou Asian Games. Alongside the intimidatory tactics, given the palpable progress in erasing the identity of Tibet with its Chinese nomenclature of Xizang, Beijing is applying the sinicisation template to Arunachal Pradesh. Referring to Arunachal Pradesh as “Zangnan”, Beijing started episodically releasing Chinese names for the Indian state.

India vehemently denounced the Chinese ‘senseless’ act and strongly responded by saying, “Assigning invented names will not alter the reality that Arunachal Pradesh, is, has been and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India”. Calling out Chinese sinister attempts, India reasoned, “repeating baseless arguments won’t validate claims”. Indeed, even the Biden administration “strongly opposed” Chinese unilateral attempts to advance territorial ambitions.

With China refusing to relinquish sinicisation pursuits of Arunachal Pradesh, India too is hitting back with swift and definitive responses. EAM Jaishankar hit back saying, “If today I change the name of your house, will it become mine?” and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh doubled down on Beijing at an election rally in Arunachal Pradesh. Giving Beijing back in the same coin, he lashed out, “I want to ask China if we change the names of various states of the neighbouring country, will those be parts of our territory?”¹.

China’s needling of India is not restricted to Arunachal Pradesh alone though the intent has become more conspicuous with the fresh tranche of ‘invented names’. In its unremitting attempts to penetrate India’s neighbourhood, Beijing has upgraded ties to a “Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership” after masterminding the “India Out” Campaign in the Indian Ocean archipelago. The campaign which has catapulted an anti-India coalition to power has strained the relations leading to the complete withdrawal of Indian personnel engaged in emergency, rescue, and relief operations as well.

Soon Beijing signed a defence cooperation agreement that is supposed to enable the Maldives to “stand on their own feet” and have “autonomy and independence”, including the acquisition of non-lethal weaponry like tear gas, pepper spray and similar items. Indeed, Maldivian President Muizzu has signed 20 key agreements on his China visit. Days after the visit, Maldives terminated the Hydrographic survey agreement with India and allowed a Chinese research vessel to dock in Male raising concerns about potential mapping of the Indian Ocean seabed.

Latest reports now indicate that the Maldives Industrial Development Free Zone (MIDF) signed a MoU with China’s Harbour Engineering (CHE) to establish an Agriculture Economic Zone in Uthuru Thila Falhu the northern side atoll closest to India. CHE known for land reclamation has been sanctioned by the US for its activities in the South China Sea and close links with the Chinese military. CHE was blacklisted by Bangladesh as well in 2018. More number of Chinese research vessels have been spotted in the Indian Ocean Region since Muizzu assumed charge raising potential security concerns.

Acceding to India’s request of impending security concerns, Sri Lanka imposed a year-long ban on the docking of Chinese research vessels in January. But this elicited harsh reprisal from Beijing. Subsequently, Sri Lanka announced that it would allow foreign offshore ships for replenishments. During Sri Lankan Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena’s recent visit to China, Beijing pledged to play a positive role in achieving debt sustainability, advancing and accelerating BRI.

India is now closely watching Nepal after the pro-China government assumed power. To retain his position, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has joined hands with K.P. Sharma Oli known for his pro-China proclivities. Indo-Nepalese ties have gone south under Oli’s watch. The current communist-dominated coalition might veer Nepal towards China. Reconciling the popular perception, the newly appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of the new coalition made his first visit to China to revive the implementation plans of the BRI signed in 2017 and the development of the Nepal-Tibet-Chongquing-Sichuan development corridor. China has recently extended an invitation to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for a state visit. By making inroads into the Indian neighbourhood, China intends to unsettle New Delhi. Above all, the cornerstone of the Sino-Pakistan ‘all-weather friendship’ is rooted in anti-India foreign policy.

Since 2014 India has been giving a befitting reply to Chinese territorial and diplomatic excesses. To counter Chinese forays into its immediate neighbourhood, India unveiled “Neighbourhood First” and “Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR)” to build sustainable developmental partnerships and shoring up its influence. China’s foreign policy is replete with intimidation, coercion and subterfuge to advance its global ambitions and territorial interests. Beijing has been expertly deploying these weapons to bully neighbours and have its way.

China’s strategy is aptly reflected in Beijing’s harassment, stalling and attacking of the Philippine vessels in the South China Sea; the multitudinous air defence exercises and incursions along the Taiwan Straits; contiguous entry into the disputed waters of the Sea of Japan, and settling of hundreds of Tibetans inside Sino-Bhutan northern border. All these punitive aggressions against different countries have one thing in common. Forcing nations to succumb to its unfounded and subjective claims. The Chinese intimidatory tactics under President Xi have consumed the peace and stability of the region.

Under the garb of defence exercises along the Tibetan mountainous terrain, China made territorial incursions along the LAC in 2020. After fumbling initially, India has repulsed these sinister plans of China and refused to yield even as the standoff is about to enter its fifth year. The 29 rounds of Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) meetings held by countries thus far, failed to break the impasse. But India is in no mood to relent. Exercising strategic patience, India is now frustrating China by holding its ground.

India is now defeating China in its game of conflict intensification and reaping benefits out of it. Besides making the border space strong, resilient and effective, India is handing out solid diplomatic rebuttals and calling out the bluff of the Chinese propaganda and touted doctrines which are contradictory to its brinkmanship. Simultaneously, the rising India is constantly striving towards building a robust deterrence. New Delhi is no longer carried away by the Chinese double-speak that the Chinese embassy parroted about - “properly handling differences, promoting healthy and stable bilateral relations” on the eve of the 74^th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between countries on April 1^st even as Defence Ministry reiterated the fictitious-“Zangnan-an inherent part of Chinese territory”.

With elections around the corner in India, China is playing blow-hot, blow-cold and reviving the border issue to provide a long handle to the opposition. Chinese reputation of electoral interference is now an established fact. The Canadian spy agency, Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), in its briefing stated, “We know that the PRC (People’s Republic of China) clandestinely and deceptively interfered in both 2019 and 2021 elections”². Software giant, Microsoft issued a warning regarding China’s potential use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to disrupt elections in high-profile elections in India, South Korea and the US³.

Unlike in the past, India is no longer complacent. New Delhi completely understands Chinese strategies. In the face of China’s unabashed geopolitical posturing, New Delhi knows what to expect. With strategic competition heating up in this part of the world, Army Chief Manoj Pande has called upon the forces to be always prepared for ‘black swan events’ and to ‘expect the unexpected’⁴.

China must stop using its idea of superiority (Tian Chao-roughly meaning Celestial Empire) and shed its warped 1962 perception of India. India is now a vibrant power. Beijing must treat India as an equal. Else India would respond in a manner that China understands the best.

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