China's claim over a large part of India's North Eastern boarder area in Arunachal Pradesh has forced India to reinforce its resources for defending its fragile territories in the Himalayas.
China doesn't recognize Arunachal Pradesh which is home of Monpa people who revere Dalai Lama. In fact the sixth Dalai Lama was born in this region. The basis of China's claim is the Tibetan heritage of this region. Indian policy to accept China's sovereignty over Tibet hasn't helped improved the relation between the two countries. Even if India provided shelter for the Dalai Lama and his government-in-exile, a number of politicians including some so called Hindu nationalists were not happy with this arrangement. Many Indian politicians leaning to both left and right favor a more appeasing policy towards China that is slated to be the world's topmost economic power in near future.
China has grown increasingly hostile to the Dalai Lama after severe ethnic unrest in Tibet in 2008. This year, it turned its diplomatic guns on India over Arunachal Pradesh. In order to counter the Chinese threats which deployed large contingent in the border areas of Arunachal Pradesh, the Indian military decided to add two divisions of troops, totaling 50,000 to 60,000 soldiers, to the border region over the next several years. Now thousands of Indian and Chinese forces are facing each other in the boarder region that hints at difficult times ahead for India which has been marching forward with an impressive economic growth in the recent years.
The Chinese have two major claims on Indian territory. China is in occupation of approximately 38,000 square kilometers of Indian territory in Jammu and Kashmir where it claims over Aksai chin. China claims approximately 90,000 square kilometers of Indian territory in Arunachal Pradesh and about 2000 square kilometers in the Middle Sector of the India-China boundary. Also Pakistan ceded 5,180 square kilometers of Indian territory in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir to China.
In spite of trade agreements signed between the two countries China couldn't hide its expansionist ambitions. During the Indian Prime Minister’s visit to China in June 2003 India and China signed a Memorandum on Expanding Border Trade. The Indian side agreed to designate Changgu of Sikkim state as the venue for border trade market, while the Chinese side agreed to designate Renqinggang of the Tibet Autonomous Region as the venue for border trade market. In 2005 China and India affirmed their readiness to seek a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solution to the boundary issue through equal and friendly negotiations.
For decades India followed a flawed policy to neglect development in the Himalayan region that was changed a few years ago. As a result road developments and other activities began in areas such as, Jammu and Kashmir region and the North Eastern states. India has undertaken road construction along 608 Kilometers in Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.
Undoubtedly China is doing everything to throttle India's economic and political rise, especially in Asia. It unsuccessfully tried to block a $2.9 billion loan that the Asian Development Bank finally granted to India for water projects in Arunachal Pradesh.
Experts recognize China's historical expansionist designs in Asia. According to Dr. Sue Gronewold, Chair, History Department at Kean University and author of 'Beautiful Merchandise', who teaches China's cultural history, commented:
“Border disputes are always messy and extremely difficult to disentangle since they involve complicated histories, competing claims, issues of nationalism and national security....From Tibet to the other border disputes with India to the islands in the China Sea to continuing border disputes with Russia and even Korea, China believes that it has historic claims to these territories and can support its claims with historic evidences: treaties, claims, administrative structures, tributary arrangements. The period of early Qung Dynasty, in particular, was greatly expansionist when China sought to extend its formal control over a large number of regions that had been less formally part of the Chinese claims. (In others, like Korea, the disputes have an even older provenance.)”
China's friendship with Pakistan is well known and its tendency to assist communist uprising in Asian region has never been a secret. Its territorial claims on the basis of religion can't be entertained. In this context India has no option than to follow a tougher diplomatic stand against its giant neighbor. Dalai Lama, who is revered in America and honored by the United States Congress deserves honor and respect by the Indian government. India must reshape its policies towards its neighbors on the basis of its long term strategic goals. India needs to enlarge its vision and objectives to reach out the rest of Asia for establishing a mutually beneficial partnership.
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