What are Chinese ‘Xiaokang’ Villages, which are coming up in contested areas along LAC?

China has constructed 72% of its 628 Xiaokang, or “well-off villages,” near the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in northeastern states, with 90% in Arunachal Pradesh.

The details were revealed on Tuesday (March 10) by Deputy Chief of the Army Staff (Strategy), Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai, during an address at the annual Assam Rifles-USI seminar, who added that many of these settlements are in areas contested between the two countries.

“..Not to mention the Xiaokang project of about 600 odd villages across the northern borders. But more importantly, almost 72% of these 628 villages are across the northeastern states. That translates to about 450, and out of these, almost 90% are opposite the state of Arunachal Pradesh. No marks for guessing why that is so,” he said.

“These border settlements, villages are definitely a challenge. They’re coming up very rapidly. And many of these are in areas that are contested between the two countries,” he said.

What are the Xiaokang border defence villages?

China has been constructing 628 such Xiaokang or “well-off villages” along India’s borders with the Tibet Autonomous Region for over five years now. These have been constructed all along the LAC, including the Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh borders.

The structures include mostly double-storey, large and spacious buildings. The construction for most of these planned villages has already been completed, as per officials.

The exact purposes of these villages have remained unclear, but they were understood to be dual-use infrastructure — can be used both for civil and military purposes — and have thus been a concern from a defence perspective. The strategic community looks at it as a way to assert Chinese claims over certain areas along the LAC.

Notably, the exact extent of the LAC has been a source of contention between the two countries for years. India considers it to be 3,488 km long, while China says it is around 2,000 km.

Are they occupied?

While China had been constructing them aggressively since 2019, they remained vacant for a long time. However, since late 2023, Chinese nationals have started occupying several of these villages particularly across from Lohit Valley and the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh.

China has also been constructing infrastructure, including border villages, in Bhutanese territory.

Law concerning these villages

A new law on China’s land borders was brought into effect from January 1, 2022. The law was passed in 2021 by the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress (which is China’s rubber-stamp Parliament), for the “protection and exploitation of the country’s land border areas”.

China’s official news agency Xinhua stated: “The law also stipulates that the state shall take measures to strengthen border defense, support economic and social development as well as opening-up in border areas, improve public services and infrastructure in such areas, encourage and support people’s life and work there, and promote coordination between border defense and social, economic development in border areas”.

Thus, this border law covers the border defence villages programme.

India’s response

The Indian government announced the Vibrant Villages Programme in 2022 to develop its border villages into modern villages with all amenities and as tourist attractions. The programme builds on the existing Border Area Development Programme (BADP) under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.

Under the programme, India plans to develop 663 border villages into modern villages in the first phase. Of them, at least 17 such border villages along the borders with China in Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, have been selected for development as a pilot project.

In Arunachal Pradesh, villages in the eastern part of the state and the Tawang region have been identified such as Zemithang, Taksing, Chayang Tajo, Tuting and Kibithu.

What other infrastructure is being developed by China along India’s northeast?

China has been constantly building infrastructure all along the LAC, including in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang region and the Siang Valley.

This includes the construction of new roads and bridges to improve connectivity through the passes. China has also been constructing houses and other infrastructure in Bhutanese territory.

India has also focused on strengthening its border infrastructure and improving forward connectivity with the construction of new roads, bridges, and helipads. There has also been a push to develop alternate routes to the LAC and improve inter-valley connectivity in the northeast.

Amrita Nayak Dutta writes on defence and national security as part of the national bureau of The Indian Express. In the past, Amrita has extensively reported on the media industry and broadcasting matters, urban affairs, bureaucracy and government policies. In the last 14 years of her career, she has worked in newspapers as well as in the online media space and is well versed with the functioning of both newsrooms. Amrita has worked in the northeast, Mumbai and Delhi. She has travelled extensively across the country, including in far-flung border areas, to bring detailed reports from the ground and has written investigative reports on media and defence. She has been working for The Indian Express since January 2023. ... Read More