By Ankit Panda
The Indian government announced a proposal for a 1,800 km road along the disputed Arunachal Pradesh border with China.
The Indian government will continue a spate of development activity in the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh by building a 1,800 km long highway that will run parallel to the Chinese border. Arunachal Pradesh is administered by India, but is the subject of a territorial dispute between India and China — China claims almost the entirety of the state as its territory. The highway — currently a Home Ministry proposal — follows up on recently announced plans by India’s new Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government to encourage settlements in the disputed region as well as major infrastructure projects amount to $830 million.
According to the Indian Express, the initiative, like other plans for India’s northeastern development, was put forward by Home Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju. Rijiju, a native of India’s northeast, has been outspoken about actively countering what he perceives as Chinese attempts to gradually assert a claim to Arunachal Pradesh. Rijiju, in an interview in September, noted that India “will not sacrifice any portion of our territory. Unlike in the past, Chinese military would come inside and we would surrender and keep quiet. It is not like that now. We will not show any weakness.” Current reports indicate that the highway would pass through the following border areas of Arunachal Pradesh: Tawang, East Kameng, Upper Subansiri, West Siang, Upper Siang, Dibang Valley, Desali, Chaglagam, Kibito, Dong, Hawai and Vijaynagar.
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