Last month, a bonafide Indian citizen living in the UK and travelling from London to Japan was detained at Shanghai airport. Why? Because the passport listed her birthplace as Arunachal Pradesh and Beijing deemed that ‘invalid’. The incident, as expected, sparked not just social media furore but diplomatic row, with Delhi having to state for the nth time that Arunachal Pradesh is an “unalienable and integral part of India.”
China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, however, denied the undue harassment to the transit passenger and said, “China’s border inspection authorities went through the whole process according to the laws and regulations and fully protected the lawful rights and interests of the person concerned.” She further reiterated China’s claim over Arunachal Pradesh, which she called Zangnan or South Tibet. “Zangnan is China’s territory,” she said, adding that, “China never acknowledged the so-called Arunachal Pradesh.”
This is not the solo incident of Beijing locking horns or flexing its muscle while claiming sovereignty over a territory. Parallel to the incident, Beijing hit the world headlines for being embroiled in a bitter feud with Japan over Taiwan—an independent island with its own parliament and elected legislature that China considers a breakaway island.
The latest trigger happened to be a statement given in the parliament by Japan’s new PM Sanae Takaichi suggesting that a Chinese military attack on Taiwan could compel Japan to respond militarily. The statement invoked not just diplomatic ire but serious repercussions with China stepping up retaliation through a host of economic and other reprisals.
China, the giant bully?
Taiwan and Arunachal Pradesh are not the solo flashpoints in Beijing’s geopolitical aggression. China has border disputes with roughly 15 nations, including the Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, Vietnam, South and North Korea, Nepal, Bhutan, Laos, Brunei, Singapore, Mongolia, Myanmar and Tibet.
Following the coronavirus pandemic, after China increased its military presence in the South China Sea, then US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called out China over its South China Sea claims. Pompeo announced the US’s formal rejection of “most of China’s maritime claims” in the highly contested region.
Also read: China, Japan clash over Taiwan; Trump stays mum
In the same year, India and China clashed violently at the Galwan Valley in Eastern Ladakh, a part of the disputed Aksai Chin region. The clash left India losing 20 of its soldiers. China’s critics have often called out the country on the undefendable basis of its territorial claims.
Is there a resolution in sight?
Russia is one of the few nations to have resolved its territorial disputes with China but even that precedence does not bode well for the international community. As Moscow ended up yielding a large part of the lands to Beijing in the dispute.
China, for understandable reasons, prefers bilateral resolution for all its disputes. The neighbours and other countries, however, argue that given China’s size and clout, bilateral negotiations would give China an unfair advantage. Many countries have in the past argued that China should be brought to the negotiation table with the 10-member ASEAN group (consisting of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia). The Philippines even sought international arbitration and in 2016, a UN-backed tribunal in The Hague rejected Beijing's claims in the South China Sea and backed Philippines rights to resources within its exclusive economic zone. However, Beijing being Beijing, it rejected the decision. This year too, as the Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs marked the ninth anniversary of the tribunal decision, China called the arbitration ruling as “illegal, null and void,” adding that it would never accept such claims.
Most of China’s border claims are based on historical references and contexts that no longer hold. Its long-standing dispute with Nepal comprises several parts of Nepal that China claims is Tibet. In June, it annexed Rui village in Nepal claiming it as a part of Tibet. As for Tibet itself, China has defended its long-held claim on the Himalayan country. However, the Dalai Lama this year too declared, in what is deemed to be a direct challenge to China, that even after his death Beijing will not have the authority to choose his successor. Be it Arunachal Pradesh, Tibet, Taiwan, and half-a-dozen other nations, China continues unabated with its claims, unfazed and disturbingly stubborn; seizing every and any opportunity of portraying the lands as its own; be its state media, pop culture, press briefings.
In September 2019, Dream Works Animation released a children’s movie “Abominable”. The movie, featuring a Chinese girl and a Yeti monster did phenomenally well before being banned from theatres in Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines. The reason? A few scenes in the Chinese girl’s home depicted a map hanging on the wall depicting the area of the South China Sea. Banning a children’s movie may sound like an unusual starting point to take on unsettled border claims, but it sent out a message. Clearly, more needs to be done to tame the Red Dragon and before the international community comes together to do that, it needs to brainstorm together.
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