Is China’s new land border law a signal to India?

The Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, the country's ceremonial but powerful legislative body, passed a new land law on October 23 for the "protectionand exploitation of the country's land border areas." The law will take effect on January 1.

India and Bhutan have longstanding boundary disputes with China. Experts said the new law would formalise some of China's recent actions in disputed territories with India and Bhutan,such as the PLA massing soldiers in forwarding areas along India’s 3,488 km long border, multiple transgressions across the LAC and the construction of new "frontier villages" along the Bhutan border.

Where some experts believe the law can escalate boundary disputes between the two sides of India and China, others say it is merely a set of words.

What does China’s new land border law say?

• The new law stipulates that "China's sovereignty and territorial integrity are sacred and inviolable," and urges that the administration "take efforts to defend theterritorial integrity and land boundaries; guard against and combat any conduct that compromises [them]."

• The government can take steps "to strengthen border defence, support economic and social development as well as opening-up in border areas, improve public services and infrastructurein such areas, encourage and support people's lives and work there, and promote coordination between border defence and social and economic development in border areas," according to the report.

• The law indicates efforts to settle civilians in the disputed border areas.

• According to Xinhua, the law also requires the state to adhere to the principles of "equality, mutual trust, and friendly consultation," and to "manage land border-relatedaffairs with neighbouring nations through negotiations to properly settle disputes and long-standing border issues."

How does the law impact India?

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The law declaring China's borders "sacred and inviolable" amid a long-standing dispute in eastern Ladakh indicates that Beijing is likely to stick to its existing positions.

Lt Gen D S Hooda (retd), who commanded the Northern Command, which is in charge of the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh, talking to a reputed media outlet said "the new law clearlyinvolves assigning border management to the PLA, against us." Lt Gen Hooda stated, "There is a clear distinction, a clear strategy that PLA will undertake border management."

With this new law, I don’t see the PLA pulling back from any other area. The PLA is now bound to protect the integrity, the sovereignty of border, and saying that we are going to pullout from A, B, C, D areas, will make this much more difficult: Lt Gen Hooda

Overall, “it will make negotiations a little harder, and it will make a withdrawal from balance areas less likely,” according to Lt Gen Hooda.

"Why would you want to pass laws in the middle of a standoff?" Clearly, you're sending a message... How does a law made today accord with an agreement made tomorrow?"Negotiations will get more challenging in the future, according to Lt Gen Hooda.

"They might want more from us," he continued, "saying, these are our laws, and if you want us to negotiate, this is our bottom line.”

China has a 22,457-kilometer land border with 14 nations, including India which is the third longest after Mongolia and Russia. China's borders with these two countries, unlike the Indianborder, are not disputed. Bhutan is the only other country with which China has a land border dispute of 477 km.