I am talking about India’s ban on Chinese Apps.

India’s motto behind banning Chinese apps spells a different reason, though it uses the template “data exfiltration” accusation. India tiktok’s data is stored in Singapore, and India had signed a numerous deals with singapore. The data storage is not the real issue.

India has revoked the special status accorded to Jammu & Kashmir region, which includes Ladakh, by Article 370 of Indian constitution. This means that there are no more special status for J&K and it will be like any other territory of India, under Indian constitution, rules and laws.

After the successful revocation of Article 370 and made it into the law by the President of india on the same day, Modi government has bifurcated the region into two – one state and one Union Territory, and officially released revised maps. Jammu & Kashmir, which includes the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir(PoK), as a State. Ladakh, which includes Akshai Chin which is occupied by centuries by China without giving due cognizance of LAC (Line of Actual Control as agreed on 1962 between India and China), as a Union Territory (UT).

China was shocked to see the new official map released by India (Ladakh UT) that there is no LAC and showing entire Akshai Chin as Indian Union Territory of Ladakh.

(Area map – Before revoking Article 370 of Indian Constitution)

(After revoking the Article.370 of Indian Constitution – Highlighted area is the Ladakh UT, which includes Akshai Chin)

Pakistan must have felt the same shock as well, with regards to PoK. A potential war with Pakistan nearer to the next Indian general election is highly probable, reasoning that India is reclaiming its territory as per new map which includes PoK as part of Indian state, and also as election campaign to regain BJP rule.

China tried to talk at a higher level with India to sort this out, but the push-back or delaying tactics were pursued by Modi Government, same as followed by Nehru Government in 1962, which led Sino-Indian War. China sensed the danger, assembled military and inched a bit from the LAC towards Indian Border to reinforce the territorial authority, which was considered as border incursion by India. There are contradictory statements within Ministry and commanders about how the clashes have happened and what led to the killing of 20 Indian soldiers who were inside the Chinese border of LAC. As usual the censorship is very high to know the actual facts, but this was what is deduced after hearing from various news sources.

It seems Chinese position is to recognize LAC as border between India and China and end this border dispute once for all. But Modi government seems believing in Mike Pompeo with US backing and to pursue further entanglements with china to keep the Chinese border as fiery as possible for years to come. A good news for defense equipment makers.

The Chinese apps ban, followed by FDI review & restrictions, ban-china movements, vocal for local, all leads to Inculcate anti-china sentiments in Indian population and to attract anti-china countries and companies to manufacture in India. Modi government tried Make-in-India campaign in a lavish way, but it failed utterly in the last 5 years. In his second term, the slogan changed to vocal for local. The ground reality is different in India in terms of infrastructure, political governance, political climate, social harmony… all are not doing enough for attracting foreign investment yet. If you want to know more how the locals work, look at TATA NANO car project in West Bengal, and how it had to relocate to Gujarat, and later the NANO car project was killed. TATA is a Indian business conglomerate which couldn’t overcome the local political jeopardy.

Best thing forward for India is to sit with China to sort out the Akshai Chin and define the border between the two to bring peace between the neighbors.

Addendum:

1. Tibet was conquered by Chinese in 1910 and later Dalai Lama self-declared himself as leader of Tibet with British government support. And during that period British wants to bring in India, Tibet and China to define and resolve the British India border dispute in 1914 in Simla, India. China had never accepted the independence declaration of Tibet by Dalai Lama. Hence, It refused to come to the border dispute discussion, and has warned Tibet not to sign. But Tibet went against china and signed the Simla agreement which defines MacMohan line as India’s border, which includes part of Tibet. China never accepted this.

2. In 1950, Chinese Military entered into Tibet and Dalai Lama was escaped to India, and Tibet was brought under Chinese territory. Chinese claimed that they have reclaimed their territory which was illegally liberated by British. The current disputed area was formally Tibetan ladak, which was annexed by Kashmiri Sikh King in early 1900s. China laid its claim to that part which is inside the MacMohan line. Chinese called that area as Akshai Chin.

3. Independent India and China never discussed this border dispute. Nehru declined Chinese call for dispute discussions, and thinking of retaliation with military power only when Chinese entered the MacMohan line. That day came in 1962, which was known as Indo-China War. China has claimed Indian territory inside the MacMohan line, while India had to retreat. The new border is called Line of Actual Control after the peace agreement signed between both nations. LAC is considered as border between India and China. China has still other border disputes in erstwhile NEFA region currently known as Arunachal Pradesh. Tawang area is formerly part of Tibet however, with no proper border resolution, Tawang is part of India, while China also claims that area.

4. Chinese maps shows Akshai Chin as Chinese territory, whereas Indian maps are showing it as Ladakh. there is a dotted line which shows LAC as well.

Now the interesting turn of the events started showing up:

5. India has abrogated Article 370 which was relinquishing special status accorded to J&K and Ladakh regions. Suddenly 70+ years of Kashmiri separation struggles come to an end at Indian parliament without consulting Kashmiris or Ladakhis. Indian government has demarcated J&K into two Union Territories, and redraw the map. The new map shows Akshai Chin as part of Ladakh Union Terriroty, whereas Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) is shown as J&K Union Territory.

6. China has raised concern about the new announcement of Ladakh UT which doesn’t mention anything about LAC. That means with a Indian parliamentary majority mandate, LAC has been wiped off. China was asking for discussion on the border dispute, but Modi government followed the same approach Nehru followed – keeping silence until Chinese military is showing up in the LAC border.

7. India’s grand plan might have been – this is my guess – Since Ladak UT has been created with parliamentary mandate with redrawn borders, which is a democratic process, India can lay claim to Chinese occupied territory later through UN resolution, and if needed wage a war with China. Remember, there is no accord prior to 1962 war.