If India breaks status quo on Arunachal, countermeasures by China should be in place: China Daily

China's right-leaning daily newspaper Global Times in its editorial said India has speeded up development of infrastructure along the border with China, asserting that China has "plenty of chips" with which to bargain with India, through political, military and economic means.

In its op-ed page article, the daily mainly touched on India's ongoing dispute with China over Arunachal Pradesh, which is called "South Tibet" in China. After reports surfaced of Arun Jaitley recently proposing the construction of a new tunnel, the newspaper said, "if India seeks to break the status quo in the disputed region, relevant countermeasures by China should be in place."

"The development of infrastructure can only play a limited role in improving the military's combat capability, but it is more of a gesture by the Indian government to strengthen control in the region," the newspaper said, adding that despite backward "connectivity infrastructure in the disputed China-India border areas, made-in-China products are quite popular" in the local markets in northeast India.

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"Most of the goods are imported by India from Myanmar, Nepal and Bangladesh, which serve as transit points for made-in-China goods," it said.

China had earlier announced that had "standardised" official names for six places in Arunachal Pradesh and termed the provocative move as "legitimate", India later opposed the move.

"China can strengthen economic cooperation with the three countries to put pressure on India regarding issues related to the disputed region," the state-run newspaper said.