Why China's gold mine at Arunachal border may become another flashpoint with India
China has begun large-scale mining operations on its side of the border with Arunachal Pradesh where a huge trove of gold, silver and other precious minerals valued at about $60 billion has been found, a media report said on Sunday.
The mine project is being undertaken in Lhunze county under Chinese control adjacent to the Indian border, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.
China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of southern Tibet.
Projecting the mining operations as part of China's move to take over Arunachal Pradesh, the report said "people familiar with the project say the mines are part of an ambitious plan by Beijing to reclaim South Tibet".
"China's moves to lay claim to the region's natural resources while rapidly building up infrastructure could turn it into 'another South China Sea' they said," it said.
The Post report, with inputs from local officials, Chinese geologists as well as strategic experts, comes less than a month after the first ever informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping that was aimed at cooling tensions to avert incidents like the Doklam military standoff last year.
The
73-day
standoff
marked
a
new
low
in
bilateral
ties.
Lhunze
was
in
the
news
last
October,
just
about
two
months
after
Doklam,
when
Xi
in
a
rare
gesture
replied
to
correspondence
from
a
herding
family
in
Lhunze
County
underscoring
Beijing's
claim
to
the
area.
The
family
is
based
in
Yumai,
China's
smallest
town
in
terms
of
population
located
close
to
Arunachal
Pradesh.
Xi
thanked
the
father
and
his
two
daughters
for
their
loyalty
and
contributions
to
China,
and
also
urged
the
people
of
Lhunze
to
"set
down
roots" to
develop
the
area
for
the
national
interest.
The Post report said although mining has been going on in the world's highest mountain range for thousands of years, the challenge of accessing the remote terrain and concerns about environmental damage had until now limited the extent of the activities.
But the unprecedented heavy investment by the Chinese government to build roads and other infrastructure in the area has made travel easy.
Most of the precious minerals which include rare earths used to make hi-tech products are hidden under Lhunze county, the report said.
By the end of last year, the scale of mining activity in Lhunze had surpassed that of all other areas in Tibet, it said.
People have poured into the area so fast that even local government officials could not provide a precise count for the current population, it said.
"Enormous, deep tunnels have been dug into the mountains along the military confrontation line, allowing thousands of tonnes of ore to be loaded and transported out by trucks daily, along roads built through every village," it said.
Extensive power lines and communication networks have been established, while construction is under way on an airport that can handle passenger jets, it said.
With
more
mines
being
dug
in
Lhunze
and
surroundings,
a
county
official
told
the
Post
that
more
than
80
per
cent
of
the
county
government's
tax
income
came
from
mining.
The
mines
would
also
lead
to
a
situation
akin
to
"another
South
China
Sea"
arising
out
of
the
world's
highest
mountain
range,
it
said.
Zheng
Youye,
a
professor
at
the
China
University
of
Geosciences
in
Beijing
and
the
lead
scientist
for
a
Beijing-funded
northern
Himalayan
minerals
survey,
confirmed
to
the
Post
that
a
series
of
discoveries
in
recent
years
put
the
potential
value
of
ores
under
Lhunze
and
the
nearby
area
at
370
billion
yuan
($58
billion).
"This
is
just
a
preliminary
estimate.
More
surveys
are
under
way,"
he
said.
There could be more big discoveries as Chinese researchers learn more about the area. With strong financial backing from the government, they have already amassed extensive data on the region.
According to Zheng, the new-found ores could tip the balance of power between China and India in the Himalayas.
He said Chinese troops withdrew in the 1962 war from the areas in Arunachal Pradesh as they had no people to hold the territory.
The new mining activities would lead to a rapid and significant increase in the Chinese population in the Himalayas, Zheng said, which would provide stable, long-term support for any diplomatic or military operations aimed at gradually driving Indian forces out of territory claimed by China.
"This is similar to what has happened in the South China Sea" where Beijing has asserted its claim to much of the contested waters by building artificial islands and increasing its naval activity, he said.
Hao Xiaoguang, a researcher with the Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan, Hubei who specialises in India-China issues said Beijing was likely to take the same approach to the Himalayas as in the South China Sea.
As China's economic, geopolitical and military strength continues to increase, "it is only a matter of time before South Tibet returns to Chinese control," Hao claimed.
PTI