Arunachal Pradesh has a tradition of high voter turnouts, and Tuesday was no different. But as 72 per cent of the electorate showed up at polling booths to elect a new state assembly, Beijing appeared to strike a discordant note by objecting to the prime minister’s visit to the state 10 days ago as part of an election campaign schedule. The foreign ministry in New Delhi duly filed its “disappointment and concern”. Away from the irony of China emphasising the “disputed” status of Arunachal on the day its people cast their vote in large numbers, the incident serves as a reminder of what is becoming all-too-familiar a pattern. And it is not just that China is using every forum (the Asian Development Bank, for instance) and every cue (the prime minister’s visit) to underline its official position on the status of Arunachal. It is that India must factor into its China strategy an expectation of such posturing.

This expectation has two dimensions. One, as the rolling hysteria over Chinese “incursions” in sections of the media last month showed, the government needs to be far more attentive to spin and information dispersal. Then, it took a statement by the prime minister to give enough weight to clarifications from the national security advisor, the foreign secretary and the army chief that aimed to scotch the scare-mongering. That extraordinary effort will remain an act of expedient fire-fighting if it is not followed up with a cohesive attempt to beget wider public understanding of the complexities of vast stretches of India’s borders. The “dispute” on the border with China has a long history of one-two steps by Beijing to keep the border unsettled, and not necessarily to signal a declaration of hostilities. In addition, after the protests in Tibet before last year’s Beijing Olympics and the subsequent tension in Xinjiang, China’s statements are also seen to be informed by a domestic anxiety. However, a rationalisation of such behaviour does not imply business as usual. It calls for a far greater measure of diplomatic agility in shaving the spin and hysteria off the news headlines than New Delhi has so far shown. Else, as with the public statement by its spokesperson on Tuesday, Beijing will continue to flaunt its confidence in setting the tone on the border dispute.

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