China : core interest’ claim on Arunachal Pradesh is highlighted in a Pentagon report to the US Congress

China: has identified its claim to India’s Arunachal Pradesh as one of its “core interests” in a Pentagon study that was presented to the US Congress. This highlights Beijing’s larger national policy, which aims to achieve the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” by 2049.

According to the research, China’s leadership has broadened the definition of its “core interests” to include Taiwan, the Senkaku Islands, the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, and sovereignty claims and maritime conflicts in the South China Sea.

A “natural requirement” for national renewal, according to Chinese leaders, is the unification of China and disputed areas, especially Taiwan.

A revitalized China would function at a new level on the international scene and field a “world-class” military that could “fight and win” operations while “resolutely safeguarding” the nation’s interests in development, security, and sovereignty.

According to the text, China has identified three “core interests” that are essential to the country’s revitalization and cannot be compromised or negotiated.

These include advancing China’s economic growth, maintaining control over the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and defending and extending China’s territorial claims and sovereignty.

According to the assessment, the CCP continues to be very sensitive to any perceived challenges to its authority, both internal and foreign, including accusations that it is not doing enough to protect Chinese interests.

The CCP categorizes oppositional political voices in Taiwan, Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong as separatist elements inspired by “external forces,” seeing them as intolerable challenges to its authority and legitimacy, in an effort to maintain party rule.

In October 2024, two days prior to a meeting between President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the fringes of the BRICS Summit, Indian leadership announced an agreement with China to disengage from remaining standoff sites along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with India, according to the report.

According to the report, the Xi-PM Modi encounter signaled the start of monthly high-level meetings between the two nations, where they spoke about border control and the direction of their bilateral relationship.

These actions included facilitating visas, offering direct flights, and facilitating journalistic and scholarly collaborations.

It is believed that China wants to take advantage of the lower tensions along the LAC in order to stabilize bilateral relations and stop the US-India relationship from becoming deeper.

However, the research also points out that India is likely to continue to be skeptical of China’s intentions and behavior, and that the bilateral relationship will almost certainly be limited by ongoing mistrust and other annoyances.