China passed a new land border law

China on Saturday passes a new law to build up and control its land borders despite a military standoff with India. China’s new law builds up the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) policy to work jointly with civilians in border areas- in particular Tibetan villagers living along the boundary with India and Bhutan and Nepal to work as the first line of defence.

According to Chinese official media, border disputes should be settled through dialogues and the new law adds. Also, in the past, it has been noticed that both the countries had been in a border conflict for months when troops from both sides fought with iron rods for hours in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh on June 15, 2020. As per the sources, 20 Indian soldiers and 4 Chinese soldiers were killed in the encounter. Also, one Chinese soldier was injured, the first casualties on LAC since 1975.

The news agency Xinhua reported on Saturday China’s Parliament, the National People’s Congress (NPC) voted to adopt the new law. Also, it will take effect on January 1, 2022. The state takes all the measures to protect the territorial integrity and land boundaries and guard against any action that ruined territorial integrity and land boundaries it says.

The new land border law demands the state to take steps to build up border defence, favour economic and social development, open up in border areas, upgrade public services and infrastructure, support people’s lives and encourage teamwork in border areas.

Also, the new land border law demands the responsibilities of the PLA, the armed militia, and the local government to encourage and coordinate border defence and management of areas. It  lay down the rules to favour the construction of border towns and the management of rivers in the areas and land ports.

The law on border disputes says “ the state shall following the principles of equality, mutual trust, and friendly consultation, handled land borders related affairs through negotiations”. According to the sources, Gao Jinlu member of the NPC said the new law settles a systematized legal framework for China’s land border areas. Also, President Xi Jinping signed orders to announce the law and Li Zhanshu chaired the meeting of the 13^th NPC standing committee.