Sino-Indian border dispute
Saturday, 12 September 2009
India and China are getting edgy over their border dispute involving Arunachal Pradesh in north-eastern Himalayan region and Ladakh in the western Himalayan region. The disputed area in the north-east extends to 90,000 square kilometres and in the west, 43,180 square kilometres. China disputes India's possession of Arunachal which in Chinese document is described as Southern Tibet. India alleges that China has been illegally occupying Ladakh.
Quoting military sources, the Indian media reported early this week that the Chinese troops had made incursions into Indian territories and Chinese military helicopters violated Indian air space in Ladakh region. The Indian army claims to have recorded 270 border violations and nearly 2,300 instances of "aggressive border patrolling" by Chinese soldiers in the two disputed border regions last year. The spokeswoman for the Chinese foreign ministry on September 1 dismissed all such allegations and said China conducted its border patrols "in accordance with law."
In June last, China reacted angrily and publicly when India undertook reinforcement of its army and air force units in Arunachal to "meet future security challenges" from China. China, on the other hand, said that India was in breach of the parties' obligation under a 1993 Sino-Indian treaty to keep force levels in border areas to 'a minimum level compatible with … friendly and good neighbourly relations'. A Chinese military website suggested that the dispute over Arunachal/Southern Tibet constituted a security threat to China and that the Chinese government might need to adopt a strategy to weaken control of the Indian central government in the area. The implications are grave.
An uneasy calm has been prevailing in the disputed border areas since India and China fought a border war in 1962. In 2003, the two countries initiated a dialogue to negotiate a framework for final settlement of the border dispute. There is yet no sign of meaningful progress. The 13th round of the dialogue, which took place against the backdrop of tension in Arunachal area in June, ended in New Delhi in August last, with both sides obfuscating the issue by reiterating their public stance of bilateral friendship.
It is true that despite the festering border dispute, India and China had been improving their bilateral relations since Rajiv Gandhi, then Indian prime minister, visited China in 1988 at the invitation of then Chinese premier Li Peng. This was the first visit to China by an Indian prime minister in 34 years. Relations between the two countries improved to such an extent that they held their first joint military exercise in 2007 and the second such exercise in 2008. The two countries did $52 billion worth of trade last year. But the heightened border tension is threatening to reverse the trend of growing closer bilateral relations. The businesspeople complain of official interference as fallout of border tension, "dampening the willingness of Chinese and Indian companies to invest in each other's countries."
The crux of the problem is: India and China have been fighting for the past half century the legacies of the British colonial days. Since its liberation in 1949, China has been expressing its reservations over the McMahon Line. As such, it has not been willing to accept the Line which was agreed to by British India and Tibet as a part of the 1914 Simla accord, as the border between China and India. India, on the other hand, has remained adamant on demarcating the border between the two countries on the basis of the McMahon Line.
China reached negotiated boundary settlements with Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Mongolia, North Korea, Vietnam, and Laos. But its border dispute with India is proving to be intractable. Both China and India are nuclear powers. If their border dispute is kept alive, that would risk regional stability and world peace.
Quoting military sources, the Indian media reported early this week that the Chinese troops had made incursions into Indian territories and Chinese military helicopters violated Indian air space in Ladakh region. The Indian army claims to have recorded 270 border violations and nearly 2,300 instances of "aggressive border patrolling" by Chinese soldiers in the two disputed border regions last year. The spokeswoman for the Chinese foreign ministry on September 1 dismissed all such allegations and said China conducted its border patrols "in accordance with law."
In June last, China reacted angrily and publicly when India undertook reinforcement of its army and air force units in Arunachal to "meet future security challenges" from China. China, on the other hand, said that India was in breach of the parties' obligation under a 1993 Sino-Indian treaty to keep force levels in border areas to 'a minimum level compatible with … friendly and good neighbourly relations'. A Chinese military website suggested that the dispute over Arunachal/Southern Tibet constituted a security threat to China and that the Chinese government might need to adopt a strategy to weaken control of the Indian central government in the area. The implications are grave.
An uneasy calm has been prevailing in the disputed border areas since India and China fought a border war in 1962. In 2003, the two countries initiated a dialogue to negotiate a framework for final settlement of the border dispute. There is yet no sign of meaningful progress. The 13th round of the dialogue, which took place against the backdrop of tension in Arunachal area in June, ended in New Delhi in August last, with both sides obfuscating the issue by reiterating their public stance of bilateral friendship.
It is true that despite the festering border dispute, India and China had been improving their bilateral relations since Rajiv Gandhi, then Indian prime minister, visited China in 1988 at the invitation of then Chinese premier Li Peng. This was the first visit to China by an Indian prime minister in 34 years. Relations between the two countries improved to such an extent that they held their first joint military exercise in 2007 and the second such exercise in 2008. The two countries did $52 billion worth of trade last year. But the heightened border tension is threatening to reverse the trend of growing closer bilateral relations. The businesspeople complain of official interference as fallout of border tension, "dampening the willingness of Chinese and Indian companies to invest in each other's countries."
The crux of the problem is: India and China have been fighting for the past half century the legacies of the British colonial days. Since its liberation in 1949, China has been expressing its reservations over the McMahon Line. As such, it has not been willing to accept the Line which was agreed to by British India and Tibet as a part of the 1914 Simla accord, as the border between China and India. India, on the other hand, has remained adamant on demarcating the border between the two countries on the basis of the McMahon Line.
China reached negotiated boundary settlements with Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Mongolia, North Korea, Vietnam, and Laos. But its border dispute with India is proving to be intractable. Both China and India are nuclear powers. If their border dispute is kept alive, that would risk regional stability and world peace.