Just when it looks like India and China could seriously start to work on improving their relationship, something comes along the way to trip the two neighbours up.
Not for the first time it is the harassment of Arunachal Pradesh residents by the Chinese.
Pema Wangjom Thongdok, a UK-based Indian citizen who was travelling from London to Japan on November 21 made the mistake of flying via China. The authorities there detained her for several hours before she was able to get in touch with the Indian authorities, who intervened to demand her release.
Supposedly the Chinese claimed her passport was invalid because Arunachal was listed as her birthplace. Previous cases of Chinese harassment of Arunachali residents include the use of “stapled visas” in their passports while travelling to China up to the total denial of entry permits.
The issue stems from the border between the two countries, which China refuses to accept. This border dates back more than a century and had little input from actual Chinese or Indian officials as it was decided on by the British, who forced Tibet, then largely able to govern itself as China was in an extremely chaotic domestic position, into accepting it. Known as the McMahon Line, this border was accepted wholeheartedly by India at independence in 1947 but has never sat well with the Chinese, who continue to refer to Arunachal Pradesh as South Tibet.
Indeed, even Tibetans had a hard time swallowing the McMahon Line and it was only in 2008 that the Dalai Lama unequivocally made clear that he considered Tawang – an important centre of Tibetan Buddhism – and the rest of Arunachal as being part of India. That, of course, while an important moral victory for India, holds no sway with Beijing, who continue to demonise the current Dalai Lama.
Who suffers from this dispute between Asian giants most are the people of Arunachal Pradesh, who have to undergo traumatising and demeaning treatment at the hands of the Chinese.
Arunachal is not the only area of dispute between India and China but over the past few weeks and months it seemed like the two neighbours were emerging from a particularly intense period of mutual mistrust and making friendly moves towards one another; only recently, indeed, have direct flights restarted between the two nations.
But all this counts for nothing if Arunachalis continue to face harassment by China. It’s bad enough on those occasions when North Easterners aren’t recognised as Indians by other Indians. To have the Chinese do it is intolerable.
