Arunachal Pradesh shares a 1,200km border with Tibet, not China, chief minister Pema Khandu declared Wednesday in a surgical swipe at Beijing for repeatedly laying claim to the northeastern state, and also creating what he called a ticking “water bomb” in the form of the world’s largest dam project on the Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra in India) river.“Officially, yes, Tibet is under China now. That can’t be ruled out… but originally we shared a border with Tibet,” he told PTI in Delhi on his way back from the Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday celebration in Dharamshala.“In Arunachal Pradesh, we share three international boundaries – with Bhutan approximately 150km, with Tibet… and on the eastern side, with Myanmar approximately 550km.”Khandu, in his third consecutive term as CM and credited with strengthening BJP’s hold on the state, made the remarks while seeking to “correct” the interviewer the moment he referred to Arunachal Pradesh bordering China.Pointing to China’s “forcible” occupation of Tibet in 1950, Khandu said that if one looked at India’s map, “none of the Indian states directly shares borders with China”.The CM’s statement comes amid China’s intensified bid to stamp its authority on the Dalai Lama’s succession. Union minister and fellow Arunachal Pradesh native Kiren Rijiju, said recently that the decision on who should be the Dalai Lama’s successor should be solely his and in accordance with established Tibetan Buddhist convention. No government, including China’s communist regime, should have a say, he said.On the dam China is building on the Yarlung Tsangpo, the Tibetan name for the Brahmaputra, Khandu warned that the project poses an “existential threat” to Arunachal and its neighbouring northeastern states. He termed it “a bigger issue” than anything else other than the Chinese “military threat” hanging over the region. Khandu said Beijing not being a signatory to any international water treaty meant it “cannot be trusted”. “No one knows what they might do… Suppose the dam is built and they suddenly release water, our entire Siang belt would be destroyed. The Adi tribe and similar groups would suffer devastating effects,” he said. The CM said that after discussions with the Union government, Arunachal Pradesh conceived the Siang Upper Multipurpose Project as a bulwark against China’s intentions. “Since we cannot make China see reason, it is better that we focus on our own defence mechanisms and preparations,” he told PTI.
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