US reads between the McMahon line

The bipartisan US Senate resolution recognising the McMahon Line as the international boundary between India and China – making Arunachal Pradesh an integral part of India – is a, well, landmark development. It is a clear message of support for India as well as a serious understanding, which has been elusive in the past, of the threat that an aggressive China poses to India, its neighbourhood and the Indo-Pacific. This resolution should bolster India and its efforts to craft a foreign policy engagement that is clearly rooted in a rules-based, open and liberal order.

The McMahon Line, agreed in 1914 as part of the Simla Convention between Britain and Tibet – third party to the convention China refused to sign it – as the border in the eastern Himalayan region along north-east India. Therefore, neither the independent Republic of India nor communist People’s Republic of China (PRC) were signatories. India, however, recognises the line as the border; China doesn’t.

The US resolution is an unequivocal acceptance of India’s position. It will go a long way in easing India’s concerns about support from western countries in dealing with China. Particularly as the resolution condemns Chinese military aggression to change status quo along the Line of Actual Control (LoAC), Chinese construction of villages in contested areas, publication of maps with Mandarin names for cities and features in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, and the expansion of PRC territorial claims in Bhutan. The resolution is a welcome recognition of the serious implications of events happening in these parts of the world on the geopolitical landscape at large. Beijing will take notice of this US action. New Delhi must recognise and be prepared for reactions.