China-India Border Issues and Northeast India: A View from India

Dr. Namrata Goswami gives a talk on the Sino-Indian border dispute.

The Sino-Indian border dispute in India’s eastern sector is one of the most intractable land conflicts. The quarrel has entangled China and India since 1949, and resulted in the 1962 border war which saw India defeated at the hands of China. Both countries have entered negotiations since 1981 on the eastern border, but "incompatibilities" are constantly stalling the process. In her presentation, Dr. Goswami will locate the China-India border dispute within the geo-political prism of Northeast India, Burma and China. She will offer her perspective on the escalation in China’s territorial claim over Arunachal Pradesh since 1985 and the consequences for both China and India’s military posture in the border areas. Dr. Goswami will also discuss the reasons for continuing “incompatibilities” between China and India in the current stage of negotiations. Utilizing her extensive field work in the China-India border areas since 2006 as well as drawing upon her interviews across Northeast India, Dr. Goswami will offer a unique Northeast Indian perspective on the China-India border tensions.

Dr. Namrata Goswami is currently a Senior Fellow at the Congressionally Funded United States Institute of Peace (USIP) in Washington DC, where she is exploring long-term India-China-US scenarios in order to craft sustainable security frameworks to enable unimpeded human development and security. One of the foremost Indian thinkers on long-term global trends, emerging security challenges, and scenario building, she organized the first–ever future focused Asian Security Conference at India’s premier think tank, the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), bringing in renowned scholars from across the world. She was co-lead and editor of two IDSA sponsored works on long-term trends, Imagining Asia in 2030, and Asia 2030 The Unfolding Future. She was also a principal consultant for IDSA's Ministry of Defense Sponsored Strategic Trends 2030 and Indian National Security Project. She is routinely called to advise government officials and construct scenarios and wargames for India’s internal and external security. Dr. Goswami is a renowned international expert; being called to craft a framework for emerging security challenges (including 3-D printing, human self-modification and longevity, and asteroid threats) in the NATO sponsored “Partnership for Peace”.

Please RSVP at: go.gwu.edu/border