(TibetanReview.net, Sep26’21) – China’s claim over border areas on the Indian side, especially in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh, are purely territorial, based on its annexation of Tibet; it lacks any support from the local residents. And so, part of the reason why it has built 680 ‘Xiaokang’ (prosperous or thriving villages) along occupied Tibet’s border with India and Bhutan is to entice the residents of these border areas to the prospect of enjoying better living conditions under Chinese rule, Krishan Varma, a former special secretary with the Government of India.
These ‘Xiaokang’ villages are meant to lure the Indian villagers towards a better Chinese life, and are also supposed to serve as additional eyes and ears for Beijing, the IANS news service Sep 26 cited Varma as saying.
“China has built around 680 Xiaokang, which they call as ‘well off’ villages on our borders with them, and Bhutan borders. These villages are inhabited by their people who come and live in and impress the local Indian population how well off they are with the Chinese government.”
Varma, who is currently a member of the Advisory Board to the Global Counter Terrorism Council, has further said, “These are intelligence operations, security operations from their side. They try to ‘turn people anti-India’. So we are training our police personnel, regarding these attempts and sensitising them on how to counter their moves.”
Varma’s remarks came after he attended an event at the Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU) in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, on Sep 24 in a programme marking the end of a 12-day specialised training programme for 16 probationary Deputy Superintendents of Arunachal Pradesh Police.
Varma, who is also the Emeritus Resource Faculty, School of International Cooperation, Security and Strategic Languages with Media at RRU, has also said, “So the RRU has designed a special tailor-made course for Arunachal Pradesh Police, so as to counter the Chinese attempts of infiltration. The RRU-designed programme is specific to the needs of the northeastern state and was created in consultation with Arunachal Pradesh DGP RP Upadhyaya, who had visited Gujarat two months ago.”
Given the fact that China is “very advanced in the field of technology, especially the internet and social media” and it uses them in carrying out its border agenda, the RRU sessions trained the personnel not only in forensics and investigation techniques but also provided an introduction to the dark web, cybercrime and crime scene management, internet banking, fraud, fake news detection, and Chinese and internal security challenges for police officers in the northeast, the report said.
