“Arunachal isn’t ‘South Tibet’; it’s China’s strategic fiction”, First Post, April 16, 2026
“On Tuesday, yet again, the Chinese Foreign Ministry repeated its theatrics, calling Arunachal Pradesh ‘Zangnan’ and claiming they have full authority to rename “their own territories”.
China’s claim over Arunachal Pradesh has always sounded less like history and more like insistence. Beijing’s claim rests on a surprisingly fragile foundation: a fairly loose imperial association, a selectively remembered treaty, and a modern strategic ambition dressed up as historical grievance.
To understand this, one must begin with the Qing dynasty, which China frequently invokes to anchor its claims. The Qing did exercise suzerainty over Tibet, but suzerainty is not sovereignty. It was a layered, indirect system of influence, reliant on local intermediaries and marked by frequent inconsistencies. Even at its peak, Qing authority in Tibet was uneven. Beyond it, into the eastern Himalayan frontier, it was virtually non-existent…….”
Read full article at firstpost.com
