The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has had a history of using subversive tactics in order to ensure strategic gains.
In the past few years, China has not only elevated its bilateral ties with Nepal but has also begun utilizing the strategic relevance of the country for subversive tactics.
Among such seditious strategies, the sharp increase in espionage activities due to utilisation of the porous border between India and Nepal should be viewed as Beijing’s attempts to destabilize India’s path-dependent growth trajectory.
Furthermore, these activities have also gone on to cause significant worries among China’s bordering countries as the advent of such operations by China’s intelligence services has indicated its assertive intentions of causing instability among bordering states.
The India-Nepal border stretches over 1,751 kilometers and is one of the most open borders in the world.
Historically this has allowed for the free movement of people without stringent visa requirements and has facilitated robust cultural and economic exchanges between the two neighbours.
This not only reiterated the increase in Chinese espionage activities but also substantiated the fact that Nepal’s route and the porous border shared between India and Nepal is playing a prominent role in facilitating anti-national activities that threaten its national security.
However, due an ever-increasing strategic rivalry between India and China, the border has gained prominence as a potential conduit for espionage activities.
Various cases have come to light in the past few years in which Chinese nations suspected of spying have admitted of entering the country either through porous borders in Nepal or by using fake identity certificates from Kathmandu.
Instances of such activities have also led to propaganda endeavors being initiated especially to discredit any initiative that may seem to be against Chinese interests.
These activities have also been supplemented with honey-trapping methods where crucial individuals have been put under surveillance by Chinese agents in order to extract confidential information.
The case of the arrest of an Indian journalist along with a Chinese and Nepali citizen was a case in point where similar tactics were deployed to extract sensitive information.
More recently, a Chinese national was arrested in Bihar and claimed to have entered the country through Nepal.
In a similar example, the Police services in Delhi caught a Chinese spy operating as a Tibetan monk in the country who was known to have attempted several operations of extracting sensitive information and passing it on to their operators back in China.
During the investigation, it was found that the woman, a Chinese spy was residing in India as a Nepalese citizen and claimed to be a monk as part of her disguise.
It was also revealed that her registration documents were forged and was a Chinese national who had traveled to India through Nepal without legitimate documents.
Modes of Chinese espionage operations in India
In all these cases, the Chinese intelligence agencies have utilized specific methods of operation to advance their subversive objectives.
A prominent method that has emerged in the cases that have come to light has been the recruitment of Nepali nationals as assets and informants.
Given the free movement between Nepal and India, Nepalese citizens enjoy the liberty of crossing into India with relative ease as compared to Chinese nationals.
More importantly, however, these individuals have been trained and equipped to carry out specific intelligence-gathering tasks along with facilitating the entry of Chinese operatives.
A secondary yet more crucial component of their tasks has been to engage in spying activities, including spreading disinformation, inciting unrest and in some cases even sabotaging critical infrastructure.
An example of such intentions was brought to light when Indian agencies uncovered an illegal facility being run by Chinese nationals near Delhi who were brought into the country by Nepali nationals through the porous borders.
The Chinese nationals were revealed to have acted as facilitators for Chinese intelligence operators in their espionage activities of spying upon influential figures.
The racket was uncovered when two nationals from China, who had again traveled through Nepal into India, were apprehended at the Bihar-Nepal border for illegally attempting to enter into Indian territory with unauthenticated documents.
By enhancing border security and engaging diplomatically with Nepal, India mustensure that its national security interests against the backdrop of increasing Chinese espionage activities are secured at all costs.
A more recent example was when another Chinese national who was apprehended, visited sensitive Indian installations for gathering confidential national security details.
The national was arrested on espionage charges near the Gaurifanta-Nepal border.
This not only reiterated the increase in Chinese espionage activities but also substantiated the fact that Nepal’s route and the porous border shared between India and Nepal is playing a prominent role in facilitating anti-national activities that threaten its national security.
All in all, such brazen infringement of sovereign rights has been a clear modus operandi of the Chinese Party-state’s behavior in subverting its neighbor’s growth trajectories.
The strategic misuse of the India-Nepal border by China to facilitate its espionage activities in India highlights the ever-growing complexities of regional geopolitics.
While the open border has historically symbolized the close ties between India and Nepal, it now also represents a significant security challenge both for Nepal and India.
By enhancing border security and engaging diplomatically with Nepal, India must ensure that its national security interests against the backdrop of increasing Chinese espionage activities are secured at all costs.
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