E-Paper
PLA to govern border areas under new law
India and China have been locked in a border row for 17 months, a phase that saw a deadly skirmish in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh on June 15, 2020
China enacted a new law on Saturday on its land borders amid a military standoff along the disputed boundary with India, saying that its sovereignty and territorial integrity were “sacred and inviolable”, a remark likely to impact the ongoing row with New Delhi.
The legislation, the first such law since new China was formed in 1949, combines military defence of China’s land borders with improving social and economic development in border areas.
It strengthens a policy of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to work closely with civilians staying in border areas, such as villagers in its Tibet autonomous region living along the border with India, Bhutan and Nepal, to work as the first line of defence.
India and China have been locked in a border row for 17 months, a phase that saw a deadly skirmish in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh on June 15, 2020, when troops from both sides engaged each other for hours. Twenty Indian soldiers were killed in the clash, the first fatalities on the Line of Actual Control since 1975; four Chinese soldiers were killed and one injured.
Long-standing border disputes should be resolved through negotiations, the new law enjoins, according to Chinese official media.
China’s parliament, the National People’s Congress (NPC) on Saturday voted to adopt the “…new law on the protection and exploitation of the country’s land border areas, which will take effect on January 1, 2022”, Xinhua news agency reported.
The law will now govern how China guards its 22,000km land border with 14 countries, including Russia, nuclear-capable North Korea and Mongolia, besides India and Bhutan, two countries with which Beijing has border disputes.
Last week, Indian foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said the developments along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh have “seriously disturbed” the peace and tranquillity in border areas, and this has obviously had an impact on the broader relationship too. The foreign secretary, in his remarks at a seminar on “Leveraging China’s Economy” on October 21, also referred to external affairs minister S Jaishankar’s remarks that the ability of India and China to work together will determine the Asian century.
The state, the law says “shall take measures to safeguard territorial integrity and land boundaries and guard against and combat any act that undermines territorial sovereignty and land boundaries”.
The law, which has 62 articles, stipulates that the state shall take measures to “…strengthen border defence, support economic and social development as well as opening-up in border areas, improve public services and infrastructure in such areas, encourage and support people’s life and work there, and promote coordination between border defence and social, economic development in border areas”.
The law “stipulates the relevant responsibilities” of the PLA, the armed militia, and local governments to support and coordinate border defence and management of areas at the border and the building of border infrastructure.
“Under the leadership of the Central Military Commission, relevant military organs shall organise, guide and coordinate the defence and control of land borders, maintain social stability, handle emergencies and cooperate in border defence and other related work,” Article 7 of the law says.
The law laid out that the state has to nurture border towns and improve their overall “supporting capacity”.
China has built hundreds of border villages – by some counts more than 600 – across the country’s borders in the Tibet autonomous region.
“The State supports the construction of border towns, improves the system of border towns, improves the functions of border towns and strengthens the construction of supporting capacity,” Article 43 of the law says.
On the issue of resolving border disputes, the law says: “The state shall, following the principle of equality, mutual trust, and friendly consultation, handle land border related affairs with neighbouring countries through negotiations to properly resolve disputes and longstanding border issues.”
The land border law establishes a standardised legal framework for managing China’s land border affairs, Gao Jinlu, from the foreign affairs committee of the NPC, was quoted as saying by state media.
President Xi Jinping signed orders to promulgate the law.
Li Zhanshu, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, presided over the closing meeting of the 31st session of the 13th NPC Standing Committee, which ran from Tuesday to Saturday.
