From the National Bureau of Asian Research, an Asia Insight miniseries exploring the geostrategic significance of China’s borderlands, led by Nadège Rolland, Distinguished Fellow for China Studies at NBR.

Episode Five: The Himalayan Rim

China’s growing economic and political power is redrawing the map of South Asia as a cluster of countries centered around its Himalayan borderlands, connecting its land neighbors through infrastructure building and economic corridors, while redefining the region’s governance norms according to the so-called "Chinese model."

This fifth episode, recorded in New Delhi with Professor Jabin T. Jacob (Shiv Nadar Institute of Eminence, India), Shruti Jargad (Australian Strategic Policy Institute), and Dr. Constantino Xavier (Center for Social and Economic Progress, India) takes a look at the many facets of China’s increased presence in the Himalayan region.

Materials cited or referenced in the recording

• Constantino Xavier and Jabin T. Jacob (Eds.) “How China Engages in South Asia: In the Open and Behind the Scenes,” CSEP Report, July 2025.
• Constantino Xavier and Jabin T. Jacob (Eds.) “How China Engages in South Asia: Themes, Partners and Tools,” CSEP Report, May 2023.
• Shruti Jargad and Constantino Xavier, “Semantics as Strategy: Interpreting China’s Official Discourse on South Asia,” CSEP Working Paper 103, September 2025.
• National Land Borders Law of the People’s Republic of China (adopted on October 23, 2021 and officially in effect as of January 1, 2022) https://www.mfa.gov.cn/web/wjb_673085/zzjg_673183/bjhysws_674671/bhflfg/ldfxzhxfl/202303/P020230313533924391693.pdf.

Recommended additional readings

• The PRC’s Land Borders Law, USINDOPACOM J06/SJA TACAID Series, October 23, 2023 https://www.pacom.mil/Portals/55/Documents/Legal/J06%20TACAID%20-%20PRC%20LAND%20BORDERS%20LAW%20-%20FINAL.pdf.