India should avoid recklessly complicating boundary issues: China Daily editorial

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party stripped the disputed Kashmir region of its seven-decade autonomy and special status on Monday.

Which, to uninformed outsiders may sound like an internal affair of India.

The BJP government-proposed "Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Bill" seeks to divide the state into two union territories — Jammu and Kashmir, which will have an elected legislature, and Ladakh, which will be ruled directly by the central government.

Which, again, may seem to be no one's business but its own.

But both Pakistan and China have voiced opposition, saying it's illegal, and several other governments have appealed for caution on New Delhi's part. Because it is not, as the Indian Foreign Ministry claimed, a simple internal affair of India's.

While it does concern "the territory of India", as New Delhi insists, it concerns those of others' as well.

Islamabad has condemned New Delhi's decision as "illegal", stating Kashmir is an internationally recognized disputed territory. Both India and Pakistan claim it in its entirety.

Beijing, too, has declared the move as "unacceptable" and that it "will not be in any sense binding".

This is because India's claim over Ladakh, as part of Kashmir, involves Chinese territory.

Beijing has emphasized it opposes "India's inclusion of Chinese territory in the western sector of the China-India boundary into its administrative jurisdiction", saying such a practice is unacceptable and will not come into force.

The BJP may have very high political stakes in honoring such a campaign promise, but a political maneuver like this is unadvisable because it violates the sovereignty of neighboring countries.

Pakistan has asked the United Nations and other countries to intervene. China has urged India to abide by bilateral agreements and avoid acts that further complicate border issues.

The China-India border, except the 2017 Doklam standoff, has by and large remained peaceful over the past decades, because both sides have practiced restraint and avoided provocative moves.

No change made to India's domestic laws will change the related area's nature as disputed territory in international law.

But using India's domestic legislation to claim jurisdiction over a piece of Chinese territory is certainly unacceptable to China.

Even without inflicting immediate tangible damage on bilateral ties, this move will inevitably have negative consequences. Which will be very  counterproductive as the two populous neighbors find increasing needs to get closer on matters of common interest.

India should exercise prudence.