Referring to Sino-Indian Geopolitics in a recent interview with the ANI, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar said India is an exceptional power in Today’s International world. Regarding the issue of China, Dr Jaishankar said that the relationship with major powers is good; China would be an exception to this since it has violated the agreement that India has postured with them through the years at the border and, as a result, termed India’s action as a counter posture.
(Dr Jaishankar’s Recent Interview with Smita Prakash, Picture Source: ANI)
However, what was also discussed in the interview was troop deployment to the LAC especially post the 2020 Galwan Valley Clash that took place. His words were, “China was a bigger Economy, and India was responding to the situation China has created along the LAC, in Ladakh, by violating border agreements.
Dr Jaishankar clarified, “Look, they (China) are the bigger economy. What am I going to do? As a smaller economy, I will pick up a fight with the bigger economy. It’s not a question of being reactionary; it’s a question of common sense.”(We are an exceptional international power,” says EAM Jaishankar (aninews.in)
A Counter did come from Congress MP Rahul Gandhi at the plenary session of the Congress party in Raipur; Rahul Gandhi stated, “Look at the thinking of this government. A few days ago, in an interview, a minister said China’s economy is bigger than India’s, so how can we fight them? When the British ruled us, was its (British) economy smaller than us? This (minister’s comment) means never fight those who are stronger and fighting only the weak” (Rahul Gandhi terms jaishankar’s comment on China’cowardice’, asks what kind of nationalism is it – The Economic Times (indiatimes.com)
This article will delve further into Sino – the India border skirmishes that resulted in a catastrophic war of 1962 and why this is an equally perennial border dispute along with India’s western border with Pakistan.
(The Line of Actual Control is not fully demarcated, and this is neither officially recognised between the two countries of India and China, but it remains the de facto border where both militaries, by mutual agreement, maintain their armies on either side of the line, Map Source.: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/)
The concept of the LAC (Line of Actual Control) dates to a letter Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai wrote in 1959 to Prime Minister Nehru asking for a line where each side could exercise actual military control. However, Nehru vehemently rejected such notional lines, after which ensued the 1962 Sino-Indian War, which resulted in the terminology called LAC, which, per the agreement, is still followed between the two countries.
(The LAC with China has three Major divisions Western Side, the Ladakh Range, which is about 2,150 km separating Ladakh Union Territory and Xian Jiang province of China, highlighted in Red, remains the most controversial; the Least controversial in Yellow, depicts about 625 km boundary at the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. However, another controversial line demarcated in blue covering Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh (1327 km) with the Tibetan Autonomous region. Out of which 1,140 km in Arunachal Pradesh generally follows the Mc Mahon Line: Map Source: https://currentaffairs.adda247.com/)
(The First ever Sino-Indian Border to ever be mapped in 1865 when WH Johnson created a route to Khotan and back along; his Proposed boundary ran along what is called a “Northern Branch” of the Kulun Mountains, although the curve is exaggerated in the Modern Day Republic of India Government considers this to be the official border on the Western Sector between India and China popularly known as the Johnson Line later the Macartney–MacDonald Line was proposed, Map Source: Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London)
(In this Image, the Another Early border line ever mapped between then British India and China, 1878 British map, with trade routes between Ladakh and Tarim Basin marked. The edge preferred by British Indian Empire, shown in two-toned purple and pink, included the Aksai Chin and narrowed down to the Yarkand River: Map Source: Royal Geographic Society)
Tracing the Prominence of the LAC in Sino-Indian Geopolitics: Shimla Convention
In this Image, Tibetan, British and Chinese participants and plenipotentiaries to the Shimla Treaty in 1914, Britain represented Sir Henry McMahon, the Foreign Secretary of British India in Delhi. From left, China was represented by Ivan Chen (I-fan Chen), who was the Commissioner for Trade and Foreign Affairs in Shanghai; Britain was represented by Sir Henry McMahon, the Foreign Secretary of British India in Delhi; Paljor Dorje Shatra represented Tibet, commonly referred to as “Lonchen Shatra”, who was a leading prime minister of Tibet: Picture Source: Wikipedia )
The Shimla convention in 1913 and 1914 was to recognise the suzerainty of Tibet; the convention recognised that Tibet would be divided into two “Outer Tibet” and “Inner Tibet”.
The outer Tibet corresponding to Ü-Tsang and western Kham would remain in the hands of Chinese Suzerainty of the Newly created Republic of China. However, Inner Tibet would remain in the Government in Lhasa without any Chinese Interference.
(In this picture, Henry McMahon, the British plenipotentiary, put specific proposals for identifying Tibetan Regions. Based on those proposals, he is considered an architect to demarcate the only known Indo-Tibet later Sino-Indian Border: Source: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography)
(McMahon was assisted by two political officers: Charles Alfred Bell (In the picture), who negotiated with Shatra on the sidelines, and Archibald Rose, who did the same with Ivan Chen: Picture Source: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography)
(Based on McMahon Proposals, Inner Tibetan and Outer Tibetan Area was created: Map Source British India History Archives)
(The western portion of the McMahon line drawn on Map 1, which was shared by the British and the Tibetan delegates at the Shimla Conference, 1914, Map Source: Shimla Accord Treaty 1914)
(The eastern portion of the McMahon line drawn on Map 2, which was shared by the British and the Tibetan delegates at the Shimla Conference, 1914, Map Source: Shimla Accord Treaty 1914)
(The McMahon Line forms the basis of the Line of Actual Control and the northern boundary of Arunachal Pradesh, In the Red The eastern Himalaya region, which is administered by India but claimed by China after the 1962 Sino-Chinese War, Map Source: CIA)
Sino-Indian Geopolitics: Post 1947, Dominion and later the Republic of India and the People’s Republic of China.
(Post-1962 War Claims made by both Indian and Chinese Governments within the Ladakh (Akshai Chin), Both Governments in this regard haven’t still come to an agreement in regards to an official border recognised by the two sovereigns hence the LAC (Line of Actual Control ) is observed within Ladakh, Map Source. Wikipedia )
A Final Breakthrough in Sino-Indian Relations: Border Peace and Tranquility Agreement, 1993
The Border Peace and Tranquility Agreement, 1993, later amended under the Agreement on Military Confidence Building Measures, 1996, and the Protocol for the Implementation of Military Confidence Building Measures, 2005, ensure military confidence-building measures between the sovereigns that would provide no war.
The main aim of this agreement is to ensure a “Status Quo” on the mutual border pending an agreement on the eventual border.
A New Low in Sino-Indian Geopolitical Relations
Following the Tulung La incident, Delhi’s China Study Group set patrolling limits that India would stick to, to assert its LAC alignment — limits that are still being followed today. The problem is that India and China do not agree on the alignment of the LAC everywhere.
Differences in perception, particularly in 13 spots in the border’s western, middle, and eastern sectors, often lead to “face-offs” when patrols encounter each other in these grey zones between the different alignments. During a 2015 visit to China, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a pitch to revive the process. He said in a speech at Tsinghua University that “a shadow of uncertainty always hangs over the sensitive because neither side knows where the LAC is in these areas,” he said. China rebuffed his request (Line of Actual Control | India-China: the line of actual contest – The Hindu).
(An Interactive Map showing 13 hotspots where confrontations between the two armies are likely to occur on the Western Front, the most sensitive along the LAC in Ladakh (Aksai Chin) region, Areas included are Depsang, area of Kongka Pass, north of Kugrang River, north and south Pangong Tso, Spanggur Gap, opposite Dumchele, Demchok sector, Kaurik, Tashigang, Barahoti., Map Source Wikimedia Maps).(An Interactive Map showing the remaining areas where sensitive areas that have taken place or are likely to take place in Arunachal Pradesh, Areas included are Asaphila, Doklam, Longju, Sumdorong Chu, Dichu area, Doklam Map Source: Wikimedia Maps)
2020 Galwan Skirmish : New phase for Sino-Indian Geopolitics
(India and Chinese Forces face off in Galwan Valley 2020, Picture Source: The Hindu)
Perhaps the worst in 45 years was when China objected towards India constructing a road along the Galwan river valley. According to Indian sources, melee fighting on 15–16 June 2020 resulted in the deaths of Chinese and Indian soldiers.
Before the incident in 2019, India reported over 660 LAC violations and 108 aerial violations by the People’s Liberation Army, significantly higher than the number of incidents in 2018. Only 1 to 2 % of incidents are reported in the Media.
(In this Map out here, where the Galwan Skirmish took place precisely at the 58-place marker point, The 53 Marker point at the DS-DBO is the India Checkpoint post, Map Source: Wikimedia Maps)(A 3-dimensional Point of the Site of the Galwan Skirmish extracted by me on a steep slope underneath which the valley and the bend of the river prevail, Source: Google Earth Pro)(The site of Galwan clashes at the river bend. Also seen are the LAC claimed by China in June 2020 in green, and the prevailing LAC marked by the US Office of the Geographer in red, Map Source: https://data.humdata.org/dataset/large-scale-international-boundaries-lsib)
Further Chinese Incursions
(A village called Langjiu where in Arunachal where Indians claim China is illegally trying to build a village: Map Source: Google Earth Pro)
