A potent students’ body in Arunachal Pradesh has decided to counter “domineering” Beijing by banning the entry and sale of all Chinese goods in the frontier northeastern state.
The All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) has set January 12 as the deadline for the state government and business houses to boycott China-made goods or face “suitable action”.
The idea is to make Beijing stop claiming Arunachal Pradesh for good and “messing” with natural resources such as rivers that flow into India.
“This deadline is also a message to New Delhi to be sterner in its dealings with Beijing on issues pertaining to the international boundary and unfounded claims on our forefathers’ land,” Takam Tatung, the students’ union leader,
told Hindustan Times on Tuesday.
The union had earlier this month asked the Congress government, headed by Dorjee Khandu, and trade bodies to shun Chinese goods immediately.
“They sought at least a month’s time, and we didn’t want to be inconsiderate,” Tatung said.
The AAPSU also wants New Delhi to go for border fencing along the McMahon Line — the boundary between India and China — just like the boundaries with Pakistan and Bangladesh.
“Incursions by Chinese are as much of a problem as by Bangladeshis and Pakistanis,” Tatung said.
{{/usCountry}}“Incursions by Chinese are as much of a problem as by Bangladeshis and Pakistanis,” Tatung said.
{{/usCountry}}The Arunachal Pradesh government has put the onus on the trade organisations vis-à-vis the students’ union deadline.
“This isn’t something that we should lose sleep over,” said a government spokespersons from state capital Itanagar.