Al-Farabi Kazakh National University R.B. Suleimenov Institute of Oriental Studies UDK 005.44:327.5(510)(540) On manuscript rights MURATBEKOVA ALBINA MIRZAKHANOVNA China’s Contemporary Social and Economic Interaction with India in Border Areas: Models and Challenges 6D020900 - Oriental Studies Dissertation submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Research supervisors: Assoc. Prof., Dr. Laura G. Yerekesheva Dr. Siddharth S. Saxena Republic of Kazakhstan Almaty, 2019 CONTENT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................ 3 DEFINITIONS ............................................................................................................ 4 NOTATIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................. 5 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 7 1 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ....................................................................... 18 1.1 Introduction to Asian international relations ........................................................ 18 1.2 Theoretical approaches of globalisation ............................................................... 21 1.3 Economic interdependence ................................................................................... 23 1.4 The value of territory and the concept of border .................................................. 26 2 METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK OF RESEARCH ............................... 30 2.1 Methods of analysis of Sino-Indian relations ....................................................... 30 2.2 Model of China-India interaction .......................................................................... 35 3 CHINA AND INDIA IN GLOBALISATION 2.0. .............................................. 53 3.1 Geopolitics of South Asia from historical perspective ......................................... 53 3.1.1 The Tibet issue ................................................................................................ 53 3.1.2 Geopolitics of the China – India – Pakistan triangle ...................................... 58 3.1.3 The US/USSR (Russia) factor in China-India relations ................................. 61 3.2 Global and regional institutional cooperation between China and India (BRICS, BRI, SCO, BCIM) ....................................................................................................... 69 3.3 Emerging aspirations of leadership –Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi .................. 78 4 FROM MULTILATERAL TO BILATERAL: IMPLICATIONS FOR STATES ...................................................................................................................... 83 4.1 Evolution of Sino-Indian bilateral cooperation ..................................................... 83 4.2 Rapprochement of the border relations ................................................................. 86 4.3 Economic interdependence as a driving force of cooperation .............................. 93 5 CHALLENGES OF RECIPROCAL RELATIONS IN THE BORDERLANDS …………………………………………………………………………….…….…. 100 5.1 Historical origins of the cartographic records of the disputed boundaries ......... 100 5.2 Current socio-economic development of borderlands ........................................ 106 5.2.1 The case of Aksai Chin ................................................................................. 111 5.2.2 A socio-economic portrait of Arunachal Pradesh ......................................... 112 5.3 Militarization and infrastructure issues in the borderlands ................................. 119 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................ 125 LIST OF REFRENECES ....................................................................................... 129 APPENDIX A – Questionnaire .............................................................................. 145 APPENDIX B – Information about the participants of the interview ............... 146 APPENDIX C – The main themes of the thematic analysis .............................. 147 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Laura G.Yerekesheva, deputy director of the R.B.Suleimenov Institute of Oriental Studies for her invaluable guidance and immense support of my PhD study and research. I am enormously grateful for her patience, help and personal advice throughout the unforgettable process of conducting PhD research and her support in my further career steps. My special appreciation for my foreign supervisor Dr.Siddharth Saxena, director of the Cambridge Central Asian Forum, the University of Cambridge for his faith, continuous support and encouragement of my research. With his guidance and inspiration, I have dared to set high goals in a research career, which I believe I will reach. I am privileged to be a fellow of the EUCACIS PhD support programme “The EU, Central Asia and the Caucasus in the International System”, which gave me an unforgettable and rich experience not only in conducting research but also in finding new friends. My special thanks to Prof. Dr. Mathias Jopp, Head of International Programmes, Institut für Europäische Politik and Dr. Helgard Fröhlich, Programme Director, Centre international de formation européenne for tailored and courteous support of my research activities. I am delighted to thank Tatjana Kuhn, Research Associate, Centre international de formation européenne, Dr Susann Heinecke, Senior Programme Manager, Centre international de formation européenne and Janny Schulz, EUCACIS Programme Manager, Institut für Europäische Politik for professional administration and coordination during the programme. Certainly, this programme could not be implemented without a generous financial support of the Volkswagen Foundation and the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Commission. I am also grateful for the Fudan Fellowship Programme and the ITEC Programme for generous financial support and opportunity to conduct field studies in China and India. I express my special thanks to the Cambridge Central Asia Forum, especially to Prajakti Kalra, Research Associate, Cambridge Central Asia Forum and the international Cambridge team for a warm stay and an invaluable opportunity of doing research in the libraries of the University of Cambridge. In addition, I would like to convey my sincere gratitude to Dr. Swaran Singh, Dr. Srikanth Kondapalli, Dr. Alka Acharya, Dr. Patricia Uberoi, Dr. Ravi Bhoothalingam, Dr. Sanjay Kumar Pandey, Dr. Jiadong Zhang, Dr. habil. Christian Wagner, Prof. Peter Nolan and others in providing insightful discussions and comments on my research. I am also grateful to Callie Berman for her help in editing my papers. Last but not least, my deepest gratitude goes for my family for their endless support and love. My daughters Amelie and Aylin are indeed my main inspirations and greatest accomplishments of my life. 3 DEFINITIONS Confidence – actions taken to reduce fear of attack by both (or more) building measures parties in a situation of tension with or without physical (CBM) conflict Crore – in the Indian numbering system denotes ten million and is equal to 100 lakh or 1,00,00,000 with the local style of digit group separators Lakh – is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand. In the Indian convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000 Land Custom – is a large facility providing transit, customs and Stations (LCS) immigration and cargo handling services for goods and passengers traveling between Northeast India and its neighbours The Line of Actual – a demarcation line that separates Indian-controlled Control (LAC) territory from Chinese-controlled territory, formed after the 1962 war Rs – rupee, the official currency of India 4 NOTATIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS AAGC - Asia Africa Growth Corridor ACD - Asia Cooperation Dialogue AIIB - Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank ASEAN - Association of Southeast Asian Nations BADP - Border Area Development Programme BBIN - Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal BCIM EC - Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor BDCA - Border Defence Cooperation Agreement BIMSTEC - Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation BJP - Bharatiya Janata Party BRI - Belt and Road Initiative BRO - Border Road Organisation BSF - Border Security Force CBM - Confidence building measures CCP - Chinese Communist Party CICA - Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia CPEC - China Pakistan Economic Corridor CPWD - Central Public Works Department CTA - Central Tibetan Administration DONER -Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region FDI - Foreign direct investment FTA - Free Trade Agreement GDP - Gross domestic product GST - Goods and Services Taxes IMF - International Monetary Fund IR - International relations ITBP - Indo-Tibetan Border Police JEG - Joint Economic Group JNU - Jawaharlal Nehru University JWG - Joint Working Group JSG - Joint Study Groups LAC - The Line of Actual Control LCS - Land Custom Stations MoD - Ministry of Defence MOU - Memorandum of Understanding 5 NDB - New Development Bank NEFA - North-East Frontier Agency NEI - Northeast India PLA - People's Liberation Army PLAN - People's Liberation Army Navy PM - Prime Minister PoK - Pakistan-occupied Kashmir RSS - Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh SAARC - South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation SCO - Shanghai Cooperation Organisation