TAWANG, India (AP) — This remote town in the Himalayan foothills spruced up its monasteries Friday to prepare for the Dalai Lama's arrival, a trip highlighting the growing friction between China and India — two nuclear-armed giants vying for economic and political power in the region.
While a repeat of the 1962 border war between the two countries seems unlikely, the quarrel has underscored tensions — some stemming from India's swift economic growth and the increasing challenge it poses to Chinese dominance of the region.
"At the heart of all this anger, you see the subtext of India, this upstart, trying to compete with China," said Brahma Chellaney, an analyst at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi.
The people of Tawang excitedly prepared for the Dalai Lama's arrival Sunday — his first visit here since 2003. Buddhist monks hung flags and banners with the Dalai Lama's image, and decorative arches were erected across the town. A tent camp was set up for an expected influx of pilgrims to this town in the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh.
"This is a religious event for us. It is specially auspicious to have the Dalai Lama in our midst," said Tulku Rinpoche, the head of the sprawling Tawang monastery.
But the trip infuriated China, which controls Tibet and expressed grave concerns to India.
"We believe that this once again exposes the nature of the Dalai Lama as anti-China," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said.
China's anger stems in part from a dispute over Arunachel Pradesh that stretches back nearly a century. China claims the region and has disavowed the so-called McMahon Line, a border drawn by India's British colonial rulers in 1914 that gave Arunachal to India. China also occupies a part of Kashmir claimed by India.
Despite 13 recent rounds of talks on the border dispute, no agreement has been reached.
China regularly protests the movements of the Dalai Lama — the 14th incarnation of the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader — who has lived in India since he fled Chinese-controlled Tibet 50 years ago. But his visit to Tawang is especially galling to China.
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