(TibetanReview.net, Aug13’26) – China has said Aug 12 that the situation along the India-Tibet border remains “generally stable at the moment”, but declined to confirm reports of increased Chinese military activity in disputed areas near Arunachal Pradesh. The statement also came after India’s Ministry of External Affairs said the day before that maintaining peace in border areas was of “utmost importance” as the state of the frontier would govern the overall trajectory of bilateral ties. This followed some testy exchanges over Arunachal Pradesh placename announcements issue.
The remarks were made by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun at a regular briefing in Beijing, after India said issues relating to border areas with China were “most serious” and that peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) was of “utmost importance” because the situation on the frontier will shape the overall course of bilateral ties, reported indiatoday.in Aug 12.
Guo’s remarks came when he was asked whether there had been a recent military incident with India and whether China had stepped up military activity near Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing claims is “Zangnan” (Southern part of Tibet Autonomous Region).
Guo has also referred to the 36th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on China-India Border Affairs held last week in New Delhi. “The two sides agreed to maintain communication via diplomatic and military channels and jointly uphold peace and tranquillity in the border areas,” he has pointed out.
India’s Aug 11 comments came as it rejected Beijing’s criticism of its decision to formally identify 27 places and geographical features in Arunachal Pradesh by their standard names, in response to similar exercises by China since 2017. It called the state an “inalienable and integral” part of India and that nothing could change that “indisputable reality”.
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The two sides’ comments also came amid reports of aggressive posturing by Chinese troops in Arunachal Pradesh’s Upper Subansiri region.
Local residents and community organisations had earlier alleged an expansion of Chinese presence in areas near Taksing. In particular, The Nah Welfare Society, a community organisation based in Taksing, wrote to the district administration in June, alleging that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) had occupied areas it described as ancestral lands and built roads, bridges and military camps there. It named several locations, including Oying in the Asaphila area, Paniar, Marpan, Portrang Lake and Tingdingtang, adding that Chinese activity in the Taksing sector had increased significantly over the past 10 to 15 years.
Indian authorities, however, contested the allegations. Its Army said in June that reports of recent Chinese encroachment and the setting up of camps in Arunachal Pradesh were “incorrect and without any basis”. The state’s home minister Mama Natung also said there had been no Chinese intrusion into the state.
At the same time, the state government had initially said the allegations would be investigated. And then a fact-finding panel of the People’s Party of Arunachal (PPA) said it had confirmed reports of Chinese intrusions along the LAC in the Taksing area.
The four-member committee, headed by former minister and PPA chief adviser Kahfa Bengia, said Chinese PLA troops had effectively denied Indian forces access to key patrolling points in the Taksing area of Upper Subansiri district and were steadily expanding control over traditional Indian grazing and hunting grounds along the LAC, noted arunachaltimes.in Aug 11.
The team was stated to have held detailed interactions with local leaders, elders and intellectuals from Taksing, Maza and Galemo, as well as with senior defence personnel and jawans stationed in the area.
The competing assessments highlight the sensitivity of developments along the eastern sector of the disputed India-China (Tibet) boundary, particularly at a time when New Delhi and Beijing have been seeking to rebuild ties after the prolonged military confrontation that followed the deadly Galwan Valley clashes of 2020, noted the nationalheraldindia.com Aug 12.
The report said the developments in Upper Subansiri underline the continuing gap between the diplomatic effort to stabilise ties and concerns on the ground in India’s border areas.