The military and the power

Editorials from the New York Times:

Faint Hopes for Myanmar

HONG KONG — The U.S. decision to engage with Myanmar's generals is a recognition of reality, however brutal. Years of sanctions have failed. Emotional support for the jailed opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and admiration for the bravery of the monks who challenged the regime in 2007 have come up against harsh facts.

The first is that neighboring countries have commercial reasons for making deals that bolster the coffers and self-confidence of the regime. Thailand profits by buying Myanmar's gas, as does Singapore by acting as a key trading link and safe haven for the generals' wealth. China has used commerce and informal migration to carve out an influence that will likely remain whoever is in power in Myanmar. Japanese and South Korean companies continue to do whatever business they can, and though several Western companies have pulled out, Total's key role in Myanmar's gas industry makes European Union sanctions seem hypocritical.

On the diplomatic front, modest attempts by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and by the United Nations to persuade Myanmar to free Aung San Suu Kyi have been ignored. India's pro-democracy instincts long ago yielded to the need to engage the generals to counter China's overwhelming influence. New Delhi fears that Beijing's support for Myanmar would be rewarded with Chinese military access to the Bay of Bengal. India wants to counter China's commercial influence and has invested in a big Myanmar gas project, hoping to pipe gas across Bangladesh to its energy-short eastern states.

For sure, Myanmar's state-driven economy is never going to prosper under the present regime. But there are enough easily exploited resources to attract foreign investment and which supply enough cash to keep the regime in place and to support the generals' armament needs and their wives' shopping habits.

So what can a shift in the U.S. posture achieve? In the short run, the answer is probably little. Sanctions are insufficiently onerous, so the possibility of their removal carries little weight. However, there are some glimmers of light. The regime has promised elections in 2010. There is only slight hope that Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy will be permitted to participate, but it is possible she will be released, if only as a token gesture in response to U.N. and Asean pleas.

Elections will neither be free nor fair, but might be more than just a rubber stamp. The military, for which 25 percent of seats in the new Parliament are reserved, will continue to dominate, but enough new voices may emerge that can start a process of change, and provide Myanmar's senior general, Than Shwe, with a path from dictator to figurehead.

Than Shwe is now 76 and may be ailing. His deputy, Maung Aye, is 71. The military will not readily surrender power. But it may be a good time to engage with younger regime figures who may be less paranoid than Than Shwe, know more of the outside world and may be willing to consider moves to a more dynamic economy, end Myanmar's near-isolation and reduce its dependence on China. Some may feel that the nationalism that has always been at the heart of the military's self-image has been compromised by that dependence.

Indeed, strains with Beijing may already be showing. China has been upset by a Burmese military campaign in a border area long effectively controlled by former insurgent groups. The campaign disrupted trade and sent 30,000 people fleeing into China. The incident is a reminder of how China has used Myanmar's problems with its many ethnic minorities to its own advantage.

While there are some faint hopes of change, do not imagine that this is another Indonesia in the making. President Suharto's authoritarianism was more personal than the Myanmar version, which is based on a self-perpetuating military elite that has been in power since 1962. Indonesia's post-Suharto transition was possible only because of the social effects of an open economy and years of gradual relaxation of media and other controls. Myanmar is more like Vietnam 25 years ago — rigid, socialist and suspicious of the world.

Change may prove as elusive as it has been in North Korea. A popular revolution looks unlikely. Events in 2007 showed how ruthless the regime can be in the face of direct confrontation. Sanctions were worth trying but they have clearly failed. So willingness to talk to the generals just might open up chinks in their armor and reason to seek some accommodation with Aung San Suu Kyi, the monks and the outside world.

Talking With Myanmar

President Obama has decided to open talks with Myanmar's repressive government. Kurt Campbell, the assistant secretary of state for East Asia, met in New York on Tuesday with Myanmar's United Nations envoy and a member of the government cabinet — the highest-level meeting between the two governments in many years.

We have no affection for the ruthless military junta that has denied its citizens the most basic freedoms and has kept Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, under house arrest for 14 of the last 20 years. On Monday at the United Nations, Myanmar's prime minister, Gen. Thein Sein, again brushed aside calls for Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi's release.

But talking is not a concession. And if handled skillfully, it might lead, in time, to positive change.

The Clinton and Bush administrations imposed tough sanctions and refused to talk until the junta released Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi and 2,000 other political prisoners and made other political reforms. The punishment-only approach hasn't worked. Nor has the engagement-only approach of Myanmar's neighbors. Washington has now decided to give negotiations a try while keeping sanctions in place.

There are issues the two governments can discuss, including ways to curb the drug trade in Myanmar, recovering the remains of American servicemen from World War II and addressing suspicions about Myanmar's alleged nuclear dealing with North Korea.

We agree that sanctions, including a ban on investment in Myanmar's mineral resources, should remain until the dialogue yields significant progress — including freeing Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi and letting her and her political party, the National League for Democracy, participate in next year's general elections. The lifting of penalties can be calibrated according to whatever steps, if any, the junta takes.

Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi has endorsed the idea of limited engagement, but she has insisted that both the junta and the United States talk with the opposition as well.

The junta is hoping the elections will legitimize its hold on power. But there are others who argue that, with the right outside pressure, it could provide some political opening. Washington must make clear that the election will have no credibility at all unless the opposition, and its leading voice, can participate.

Change is unlikely to come quickly to Myanmar. But President Obama is right to try to nudge the process forward with limited engagement.

Source: The New York Times

Private and Public Property

Private Investigations IV

The conflict of living in a world of commodities

commodity |kəˈmäditē|

Ω (n.) A parcel or quantity of goods.

Ω (n.) Convenience; accommodation; profit; benefit; advantage; interest; commodiousness.

Ω (n.) That which affords convenience, advantage, or profit, especially in commerce, including everything movable that is bought and sold (except animals), -- goods, wares, merchandise, produce of land and manufactures, etc.

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We have so many needs in life, not to mention those ceaseless wants, while getting fed up of living in a world flooded with commodities. It is a dilemma.

You may interprete as man is born free but everywhere he is chains. Often we cannot ignore the temptations provided by free-market economy, though our wants are masked by mere frustration at times. Maybe we might have been in another frame of reference, if we were some spoiled brats of the Ambanis or the Murthys.

Life in a metropolitan has accentuated the predicament. In our heart, we care for the marginalised sections of the society and long for an egalitarian living. But we cannot even feed ourselves – the dream to own a home, the desire to buy a car – for all these thoughts remain a feeling and sadly, never materialise.

We cannot give up our lives, Hijam Irabot once dissented, because it's our responsibity to take the people forward. However, at the end of a day: we have no life outside the time in office; just pass the time, doing daily chores; and, form a couple of impressions, which are not nothing more than abstracts of wishes.

Love it or hate it - reality digs down in our life, pushing our psyche to indulge in various conflicts. The basic needs, as some of the commodities are called, are what we have achieved through our animal instincts to survive. Unfortunately, these are not sufficient to make us grow. We need to find ideas, and plenty of them that would literally flow out of us.

Otherwise we are always in a whirlpool of conflict, shackled to the conventions. We are not driven only by our thoughts but also by the system of creating wealth. We have different occupations, that's all. However we don't need to succumb to economic pressures. Be firm to rise against the bottlenecks as much as we must be determined to perform our spiritual duties. 

Ultimately, it's a tussle between capitalism and socialism, which are fighting inside the mind in each one of us, for a place they could call their own. So to be or not to be, that is not the question. We got to have an ideal in life and never bend our principles. �

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Conakry Clash

CONAKRY - Security forces in Guinea killed more than 150 people in a crackdown on opponents of military junta leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, a local rights group said on Tuesday.

The violence on Monday was the worst since Camara seized power in a 2008 coup and follows months of tension with opponents who demand he honor a longstanding pledge to ensure a transition to civilian rule.

WHAT LED UP TO THE CRACKDOWN?

Opponents believe Camara is preparing to run as a candidate in a presidential election due to have taken place this year but now postponed to January. While he himself has made no formal declaration, his supporters have in recent weeks said there should be no impediment to him standing. Two days after Camara held a rally for his supporters in the city of Labe, a coalition of rival parties sought on Monday to hold their own event at a stadium in the capital Conakry. It was banned but thousands of people took to the streets and broke into the stadium anyway -- prompting an immediate and massive crackdown by security forces.

DOES THIS AUGUR WIDER UNREST?

The violence used by the military on Monday could suggest a deliberate attempt by authorities to dissuade critics from any new challenges to Camara's rule. Aside from the use of live rounds, eyewitnesses reported gratuitous abuses by soldiers including sexual attacks on women, while media covering the events said they were assaulted by soldiers and their equipment destroyed. Several prominent opposition leaders including Cellou Dalein Diallo of the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UFDG) were arrested on Monday and it is not clear when they can expect to be released. Guinea was quiet on Tuesday, but with the presidential election due on January 31, the country is set for a volatile four months that could spill over into violence at any time.

WHAT IS THE REST OF THE WORLD DOING?

The crackdown brought swift and unequivocal condemnations from United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and former colonial power France, which said it would consult with European Union and other partners on what steps to take. The African Union recalled that it had given Camara a deadline of mid-October to confirm he would not be standing in the election or face sanctions. The AU warned that its Commission was already preparing a report on the developments and possible sanctions, but did not elaborate on what moves were possible. The statements amount to concerted external pressure on Camara to relinquish power as promised, but the junta leader has in recent months maintained an openly defiant stance to such calls.

WHAT ABOUT THE ECONOMY?

Camara's weak point may be his reliance on outside investors to ensure Guinea draws benefit from its huge bauxite reserves. Mining firms such as UC RUSAL and Rio Tinto have not indicated they are ready to leave the country despite a series of disputes. Officials say government revenues from mineral exports is already expected to fall dramatically next year, putting public finances under strain. Analysts believe Guinea's move to rescind a bauxite refinery deal with RUSAL this month was an attempt by the leadership to apply leverage for better terms on the contract rather than aimed at kicking RUSAL out. For now, investors are staying. But if Camara lets things get out of hand -- either on the streets or in the economy -- they could change their mind.

Source: Reuters

The Great Helicopter Robbery

Bandits in Sweden pull off daring multimillion-dollar heist with bombs, choppers & Bond-film flair

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In a scene that could have been lifted from a James Bond flick, a gang of heavily armed thieves used explosives and a stolen helicopter to pull off a spectacular multimillion-dollar heist in Sweden.

Bandits landed their chopper on the roof of a Stockholm cash depot early Wednesday morning and used their explosives to break in.

"What we know is that they forced down some kind of wall to get in," a police spokesman said.

"We don't want to comment on how they did it."

Witnesses heard a number of explosions as the gang moved through the building with ninja-like precision.

About 15 minutes later, they were back on the roof with bags of money and made a quick getaway in the waiting chopper.

Police had tried to stop the robbers - but were foiled before the drama even started.

The crooks had left spikes on the roads near the bank to puncture cops' tires and planted explosives at the police heliport to prevent them from taking off.

"I've never experienced anything like it," Kjell Lindgren, a police spokesman, said of the elaborate robbery, which reportedly netted the crooks tens of millions in cash.

The cash depot, owned by Britain-based G4S, stores money that is transported to banks, ATMs and other businesses in Sweden.

An abandoned helicopter was discovered hours after the robbery in a park 15 miles from the bank.

Cops say the chopper, a Bell 206 Jet Ranger, was stolen the night before the heist.

One person was taken in for questioning Wednesday afternoon, CNN reported.

Police would not disclose the individual's role in the crime.

There were 21 staff members inside the building during the heist, but no one was injured, police said. 

Here's how it happened, according to a report in the tabloid daily Aftonbladet.

5.15am - A helicopter is witnessed above the roof of the G4S cash depot in Västberga in Stockholm by staff at the National Rail Administration (Banverket) offices directly opposite.

5.19am - Police receive a call about the robbery. Witnesses watch as the stolen white Bell 206 Jet Ranger helicopter lets out three or four passengers on the roof. Explosions are heard as the robbers enter the building while the helicopter hovers above the building.

Several sacks of what is presumed to be money are then seen raised into the helicopter on a rope.

5.25am - The first police patrol arrives at the scene in Västberga but are ordered not to act as the robbers continue to load sacks of money into the helicopter. They have been ordered to await the arrival of the National Task Force.

5.35am - With the police looking on the helicopter lifts off from the roof of the building and heads north. The robbers had lain caltrops on the road routes out away from the building in order to hinder the police.

The National Task Force enters the building.

5.49am - The police helicopter station at Myttingen on Värmdö is notified but pilots can not lift off as a suspected bomb is found in front of the helicopter hanger.

7am - The police confirm that none of the 21 G4S staff were hurt in the attack.

7.37am - Explosives are found in the building and police extend the cordon around the depot.

8.15am - The helicopter is found in woodland near Skavlöten in Arninge north of Stockholm.

8.42am - The police escort the G4S staff out from the cash depot.

1pm - police dispose of the suspected bomb at the helicopter station on Värmdö with the help of a water cannon.

3pm - Police hold a press conference where they classify the crime as an extraordinary event and are thus able to call on the resources of police forces from across the country.

By 6pm in the evening the police had arrested two men in connection with the robbery as they combed the Stockholm underworld for clues to what is described as a well-organised professional heist.

Criminology professor Leif G W Persson said on Wednesday that the cash depot could have housed up to a billion kronor ($146 million) in cash.

Media reports on Thursday indicate that a mafia boss from the Balkans could be the brains behind the robbery.

It is also reported that Stockholm police had previously received information that a helicopter heist was being planned in the area but that the National Task Force had been conducting surveillance at the wrong depot, in Bromma in the north-west of the city. 

Source:

The New York Daily News

The Local

Private Investigation IV

O Brother, Where Art Thou

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An atrocious conflict between vested powers in Manipur, where a dark horizon ever looms over the nine hill ranges, is blocking the path to glory. Modern societies are thriving on the fruits of human intellect, however our thoughts are unforunately, engrossed in petty affairs of corruption, violence and savagery.

Contemporary Manipur, much to our dismay, presents the best-case scenario of human decadence. The place is riddled with a situation, where there is no solution to any problem, while every problem has its deep-rooted causes and their unrestraint effects. How do you explain the sheer lack of political will or the identity crisis, for that matter? People are proud of their land, while they are confused, finding no substance in the legacy.

We need to overhaul the system completely. No foreign ideologies could replace the thoughts that are needed to dispel the myths and misconceptions. What we need is a revolution in the revolution!

There is going to be more destruction, in the fight to claim authority between the power players. It is late that we have to realise we are living in a world where GDP measures socio-economical development. Still, as the saying goes, it is better late than never.    �

Private Investigation Version III

The Road to Freedom 

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IT WAS A BAD DAY, AND I was annoyed, I was frustrated and I was confused as I stood begging them for a pill that would subdue my urges. But the supervisor of a detox camp, where I was taking a daily harm-reduction pill from, insisted I should bring along a guardian they could trust to hand over the medicines. I knew I had to get rid of the substances before I start my life afresh.

I was leaving home to pursue a career outside the town and was requesting for a stock, at least, to fight my powerlessness over drugs. Leave alone, giving a thought or planning for the journey I was about to embark! It was no more an issue the skeptical guy trust me or not Đ for, well, a junkie is a junkie. A shot was all I needed; if not, this chemical I desperately wanted to possess.

It was a do-or-die situation, I thought. Those time I wish I could break his shoulder blades, as I was so desperate and the only thing he wanted was someone, accompanying me whom he could trust. Unfortunately, I had no way to convince him a third party was not needed to make me a more sane person. I gave up as the sun lost its sheen at the break of twilight in evening sky. I felt pain and irritated and discouraged and nervous and hysterical, and darkness engulfs my consciousness.

It was four years ago in Imphal. But then the life that I dream of, and the life I was living was like the tale of two different cities Đ without an atom of similarity. The evil experience started with pots, drinks and plenty of painkillers during my high-school days. I graduated, with remorse, to higher forms such as smack and powder before I went to college. During graduation exams, I used to take a break and rush to a haven situated at a walking distance from our college.

I was inspired by Paulo Coehlo. When I look back, I was always in search of adventure and exciting dreams. I have abandoned tradition, do away with giving in to authority. I did drugs. I filled my soul with ego. Finally I ended up discovering quite a different reality.

One day, I waited and did nothing as I was making up a way to get some amount from somewhere. It started in the early morning, with the previous day gone away a lifetime ago. But it doesn't mean I did not regret the life I was living. I waited the whole day, while my nose started running; there was not an ounce of hunger and my soul was longing to get out of the listless body. I felt the hunger and thirst of my body to get high was the centre of the universe. I was lonely, feeling sad and desperately yearning for a kick. Nothing in the universe but a piece of powder could gave me serenity.

When it was dark, I finally got the fifty bucks Đ the price for my existence. And I got looted. The cops whipped me for loitering around  the notorious area, where the stuff was available. I was so close to my dream, yet so far. The chase and hassles for meaning in the things still remains elusive as ever. I got beaten, I got bruised and I got angry Đ that was a part of my life. They took away my money and all I could do was to get a couple of broken fingers and a gash on my body from their lathis.

But that was then, and now the times-they-are-a-changing. Every day is a fucking great day now. I don't wake up with a nightmare anymore and have left long ago the things I always did first thing in the morning Đ seeking and searching a way to get my choice of chemical and subdue my intolerable urges.

I am free now. I don't depend on substances anymore. I did drugs to live my life and lived my life to do drugs. Not anymore. It was an experience of a lifetime that the things I did in a decade of self-destruction. I still remember my ex-supervisor. I hope he has climbed higher in his career. I have no ill-feelings nor any grudge against him. However, I would have had not puked inside the bus. I was high after a fix just before the journey. b     

Private Investigation II

The Great Puppet Show

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It is funny how a government can be ridiculed in the valley, and observe the desperation they are showing overtly to keep their masters happy.

Recently, the Manipur govt has been on a drive to arrest and have already taken in custody, several leaders of the Apunba Lup, an umbrella organisation of 32 socio-political and cultural fronts. Police charge they are sympathisers of militant organisations, having close links with the rebels. However, the Lup denies the allegation, citing their role in campaign against state terrorism, had infuriarated the establishment.

Might is right, as the saying goes. In contemporary Manipur, the utter lack of justice is sometimes seen as a period of transition, while no one knows what lies in store for the people. Power lies in the barrel of a gun, and authority lies in the group who can speak loudest, no matter what the consequences are.

It is even more interesting, how the SPF Govt has been in power, amidst the mess, for two consecutive terms. Is it because they can play well to the script provided by the Union govt or that the common people are so gullible? Either ways, Manipur is heading towards primitive times. And it sucks!       �

Contemporary Manipur

An editorial from the Imphal Free Press

Source:  Imphal Free Press

Transforming Conflict

The term "conflict management" quite expectedly is given to different interpretations. There are those who think, obviously from a very statist point of view, that this is a strategy for the conduct of conflict itself for the state to adopt. Used in this sense, "conflict management" is directly in opposition with other notions such as "conflict resolution". Unlike in the former approach, implicit in the latter is an acknowledgement, and with it, an accompanying respect and empathy for the causes that led to the conflict in the first place. "Conflict resolution" hence also means a willingness to address the causes of conflict and resolve them in the belief that only this can lead to lasting peace. "Conflict management" starts off on a pessimistic note. The presumption is that conflict is an intrinsic condition determined by irreversible history, culture, religion and race differences etc, and that there possibly cannot be a permanent solution to it. The only viable approach remaining then is to manage it and keep it strictly under control by the use of force if necessary. As also is the experience of the world today, the use of force is indeed a necessary part of this approach. The only permanent solution to conflict and conflicting interests from this viewpoint is to exterminate the adversaries, and as history is again proof, this too has been tried in so many regions of the world. The Holocaust, in which Hitler's Nazi Germany sought the "Final Solution" against the Jews, is the terrifying extent this thought has been, and can be pushed.

The matter however is not all in black and white. If the notion of "conflict management" forms only part of a much bigger whole of a peace project, then it should acquire a different meaning. But for this to happen "conflict management" must have to first cease to be an end in itself. As for instance in Manipur today "conflict management" could mean finding ways not to lose track of other major concerns of day to day life and governance in spite of the ongoing unresolved conflict situation. This would first and foremost entail not allowing the law and order situation to slip beyond control by the exercise of appropriate and proportionate state authority while the peace initiatives are pushed on other tracks. These other tracks must necessarily involve political overtures which address the roots of the conflicts and seek to put them to rest once and for all. The ultimate result must not be about denying the causes of these conflicts or trivialise them in any way, but of a willingness to acknowledge and accommodate them in future policy outlooks. The energy that fired the engine of conflict must ultimately transform to a new fuel for creative and constructive urges in the society. In many ways, many liberals today read this message even on the Jinnah and Partition question, a chapter of Indian history newly opened after Jaswant Singh's recent controversial book on the subject. Many now are of the opinion that there was an abject failure on the part of tall leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru to understand and empathise with the depth  of Muslim insecurity when pitted against "Hindu majoritarianism" even when the later came in a liberal package. As noted academician, Ashis Nandi was quoted by a news magazine recently, what Jinnah demanded at the time is nothing very different from what the OBCs, Dalits and tribal are demanding now. Nandi of course has the advantage of hindsight. Nehru who was fighting a raging fire at the time did not.

The reality of an insurrection being such, it is unlikely to have any quick fix solutions. This being the case, "conflict management" should also mean ensuring a condition where normal life is not adversely affected even while the conflict rages on so that life continues to be liveable. To take just a single and illustrative example, while the government is called upon to do everything within its power to ensure at least a basic level of law and order is maintained, other routine responsibilities such as garbage clearance from the roadsides and market places cannot come to a grinding halt. Likewise, it must also ensure that schools and colleges are run normally, essential services do not stop, developmental works continue as usual, economy building is not hampered, corruption is controlled etc, even while it seeks a resolution to the issues that led to the vexing and endemic trouble in the state. In other words, "conflict management" should come to mean buying the time needed for working out a lasting resolution to the issues of conflict hanging like the proverbial albatross around the neck of every conscientious citizen, and not a method for tackling these issues.

¬

I am what I think I am

œ

I am two men: one wants to have all the joy, passion and adventure that life can give me. The other wants to be a slave to routine, to a normal life, to the things can be planned or achieved. The meeting of these two men is a game with serious risks. A divine dance. When we meet, we are two divine energies, two universes colliding. If the meeting is not carried out with due reverence, one universe destroys the another�.

œ

Fighting for the frontier

China and India Dispute Enclave on Edge of Tibet

 

This is an American-centric news report, featured in the New York Times on September 3. The overt analysis has a tinge of vilifying China, which would somehow bring a smile on the mainland Indian's face. I read it for I feel the pain of the people, residing in the frontier area. 

I can relate to the problem – while we have studied from Class VI in our Civics about living in a democratic country, it is  frustrating the system has been trying to veil our views.   

Here's the report:

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TAWANG, India — This is perhaps the most militarized Buddhist enclave in the world.

Perched above 10,000 feet in the icy reaches of the eastern Himalayas, the town of Tawang is not only home to one of Tibetan Buddhism's most sacred monasteries, but is also the site of a huge Indian military buildup. Convoys of army trucks haul howitzers along rutted mountain roads. Soldiers drill in muddy fields. Military bases appear every half-mile in the countryside, with watchtowers rising behind concertina wire.

A road sign on the northern edge of town helps explain the reason for all the fear and the fury: the border with China is just 23 miles away; Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, 316 miles; and Beijing, 2,676 miles.

"The Chinese Army has a big deployment at the border, at Bumla," said Madan Singh, a junior commissioned officer who sat with a half-dozen soldiers one afternoon sipping tea beside a fog-cloaked road. "That's why we're here."

Though little known to the outside world, Tawang is the biggest tinderbox in relations between the world's two most populous nations. It is the focus of China's most delicate land-border dispute, a conflict rooted in Chinese claims of sovereignty over all of historical Tibet.

In recent months, both countries have stepped up efforts to secure their rights over this rugged patch of land. China tried to block a $2.9 billion loan to India from the Asian Development Bank on the grounds that part of the loan was destined for water projects in Arunachal Pradesh, the state that includes Tawang. It was the first time China had sought to influence the territorial dispute through a multilateral institution. Then the governor of Arunachal Pradesh announced that the Indian military was deploying extra troops and fighter jets in the area.

The growing belligerence has soured relations between the two Asian giants and has prompted one Indian military leader to declare that China has replaced Pakistan as India's biggest threat.

Economic progress might be expected to bring the countries closer. China and India did $52 billion worth of trade last year, a 34 percent increase over 2007. But businesspeople say border tensions have infused business deals with official interference, damping the willingness of Chinese and Indian companies to invest in each other's countries.

"Officials start taking more time, scrutinizing things more carefully, and all that means more delays and ultimately more denials, " said Ravi Bhoothalingam, a former president of the Oberoi Group, the luxury hotel chain, and a member of the Institute of Chinese Studies in New Delhi. "That's not good for business."

The roots of the conflict go back to China's territorial claims to Tibet, an enduring source of friction between China and many foreign nations. China insists that this section of northeast India has historically been part of Tibet, and should be part of China.

Tawang is a thickly forested area of white stupas and steep, terraced hillsides that is home to the Monpa people, who practice Tibetan Buddhism, speak a language similar to Tibetan and once paid tribute to rulers in Lhasa. The Sixth Dalai Lama was born here in the 17th century. The Chinese Army occupied Tawang briefly in 1962, during a war with India fought over this and other territories along the 2,521-mile border.

More than 3,100 Indian soldiers and 700 Chinese soldiers were killed and thousands wounded in the border war. Memorials here highlighting Chinese aggression in Tawang are big draws for Indian tourists.

"The entire border is disputed," said Ma Jiali, an India scholar at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, a government-supported research group in Beijing. "This problem hasn't been solved, and it's a huge barrier to China-India relations."

In some ways, Tawang has become a proxy battleground, too, between China and the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of the Tibetans, who passed through this valley when he fled into exile in 1959. From his home in the distant Indian hill town of Dharamsala, he wields enormous influence over Tawang. He appoints the abbot of the powerful monastery and gives financial support to institutions throughout the area. Last year, the Dalai Lama announced for the first time that Tawang is a part of India, bolstering the India's territorial claims and infuriating China.

Traditional Tibetan culture runs strong in Tawang. One morning in June, the monastery held a religious festival that drew hundreds from the nearby villages. As red-robed monks chanted sutras, blew horns and swung incense braziers in the monastery courtyard, the villagers jostled each other to be blessed by the senior lamas.

At the monastery, an important center of Tibetan learning, monks express rage over Chinese rule in Tibet, which the Chinese Army seized in 1951. 

"I hate the Chinese government," said Gombu Tsering, 70, a senior monk who watches over the monastery's museum. "Tibet wasn't even a part of China. Lhasa wasn't a part of China."

Few expect China to try to annex Tawang by force, but military skirmishes are a real danger, analysts say. The Indian military recorded 270 border violations and nearly 2,300 instances of "aggressive border patrolling" by Chinese soldiers last year, said Brahma Chellaney, a professor of strategic studies at the Center for Policy Research, a research organization in New Delhi. Mr. Chellaney has advised the Indian government's National Security Council.

"The India-China frontier has become more 'hot' than the India-Pakistan border," he said in an e-mail message.

Two years ago, Chinese soldiers demolished a Buddhist statue that Indians had erected at Bumla, the main border pass above Tawang, a member of the Indian Parliament, Nabam Rebia, said in a session of Parliament.

Tawang became part of modern India when Tibetan leaders signed a treaty with British officials in 1914 that established a border called the McMahon Line between Tibet and British-run India. Tawang fell south of the line. The treaty, the Simla Convention, is not recognized by China.

"We recognize it because we agreed to it," said Samdhong Rinpoche, prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile. "If China agreed to it now, it would be a recognition of the power of the Tibet government at that time."

China has grown increasingly hostile to the Dalai Lama after severe ethnic unrest in Tibet in 2008. This year, it turned its diplomatic guns on India over the Tawang issue. China moved in March to block a $2.9 billion loan to India from the Asian Development Bank, a multination group based in Manila that has China on its board, because $60 million of the loan had been earmarked for flood-control projects in Arunachal Pradesh. The loan was approved in mid-June over China's heated objections.

"China expresses strong dissatisfaction to the move, which can neither change the existence of immense territorial disputes between China and India, nor China's fundamental position on its border issues with India," Qin Gang, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, said in a written statement.

In May, weeks after China first tried to block the loan, the chief of the Indian Air Force, Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi, now retired, told a prominent Indian newspaper that China posed a greater threat than Pakistan.

Another official, J. J. Singh, the governor of Arunachal Pradesh and a retired chief of the Indian Army, said the next month that the Indian military was adding two divisions of troops, totaling 50,000 to 60,000 soldiers, to the border region over the next several years. Four Sukhoi fighter jets were immediately deployed to a nearby air base.

Since 2005, when Prime Minister Wen Jiabao of China visited India, the two countries have gone through 13 rounds of bilateral negotiations over the issue. A round was held just last month, with no results.

"The China-India border has got to be one of the most continuously negotiated borders in modern history," said M. Taylor Fravel, an associate professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who is a leading expert on China's borders. "That shows how intractable this dispute is."

The New York Times