Origins of the Sino-Indian border dispute

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Sovereignty over two separated pieces of territory was contested during the Sino-Indian War. One is Aksai Chin is located either in the Indian province of Kashmir or the Chinese province of Xinjiang in the west. It is a virtually uninhabited high-altitude wasteland crossed by the Xinjiang-Tibet Highway. The other disputed area lies to the east is referred to as Arunachal Pradesh by India and South Tibet by China. It is a sparsely inhabited area with numerous local tribes.

Contents 1 The Johnson Line 2 The McMahon Line 3 See also 4 References

[edit] The Johnson Line

One of the earliest treaties regarding the boundaries in the western sector was issued in 1842. The Sikh Confederacy of the Punjab region in India had annexed Ladakh into the state of Jammu in 1834. In 1841, they invaded Tibet with an army. Chinese forces defeated the Sikh army and in turn entered Ladakh and besieged Leh. After being checked by the Sikh forces, the Chinese and the Sikhs signed a treaty in September 1842, which stipulated no transgressions or interference in the other country's frontiers.^[1] The British defeat of the Sikhs in 1846 resulted in transfer of sovereignty over Ladakh to the British, and British commissioners attempted to meet with Chinese officials to discuss the the border they now shared. However, both sides were apparently sufficiently satisfied that a traditional border was recognized and defined by natural delements, and the border was not demarcated.^[1] The boundaries at the two extremities, Pangong Lake and Karakoram Pass, were well-defined, but the Aksai Chin area in between lay undefined.^[2]

W. H. Johnson, a civil servant with the Survey of India proposed the "Johnson Line" (also known as the "Johnson-Ardagh Line") in 1865, which puts Aksai Chin in Kashmir.^[3] This line was never presented to the Chinese^[3]. Johnson presented this line to the Maharaja of Kashmir, who then claimed the 18,000 square kilometres contained within.^[3] The British government had some doubts on the validity of the Johnson Line^[4][3] and Johnson was censured^[5], but the Chinese had already Shahidulla in 1890 before the issue was decided^[3]. By 1892, China had erected boundary markets at Karakoram Pass.^[4]

At this time, Britain and China were allies and Britain was principally concerned that Aksai Chin not fall into Russian hands.^[3] When China showed an interest in Aksai Chin, Britain proposed a revised boundary, called the MacCartney-Macdonald Line, which puts most of Aksai Chin in Chinese territory.^[3]. This border, which set the border along the Karakoram Mountains, was proposed and supported by British officials for a number of reasons. The Karakoram Mountains formed a natural boundary, which would set the British borders up to the Indus River watershed while leaving the Tarim River watershed in Chinese control, and Chinese control of this tract would present a further obstacle to Russian advance in Central Asia.^[5] In 1899, the British presented this line to the Chinese, who raised no objection to it.^[3] This line is approximately the same as the current Line of Actual Control.^[3] Both lines were used on British maps of India.^[3]

In 1911, the Xinhai Revolution resulted in the collapse of central power in China, and by the end of World War I, the British officially used the Johnson Line, although they took no steps to establish outposts or assert actual control on the ground^[4]. In 1927, the line was adjusted again as the government of British Indian abandoned the Johnson line in favor of a line along the Karakoram range further south.^[4] However, the maps were not updated and still showed the Johnson Line^[4].

When British officials learned of Soviet officials surveying the Aksai Chin for Sheng Shicai, warlord of Xinjiang in 1940-1941, they again advocated the Johnson Line.^[3] At this point the British had still made no attempts to establish outposts or control over the Aksai Chin, nor was the issue ever discussed with the governments of China or Tibet, and the boundary remained undemarcated at India's independence^[4][3].

Upon independence in 1947, the government of India used the Johnson Line as the basis for its official boundary in the west, which included the Aksai Chin^[4] From the Karakoram Pass (which is not under dispute), the Indian claim line extends northeast of the Karakoram Mountains through the salt flats of the Aksai Chin, to set a boundary at the Kunlun Mountains, and incorporating part of the Karakash River and Yarkand River watersheds. From there, it runs east along the Kunlun Mountains, before turning southwest through the Aksai Chin salt flats, through the Karakoram Mountains, and then to Panggong Lake, which is not under dispute^[2].

The Johnson Line is not used west of the Karakoram Pass, which lies in Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir. In October 13, 1962, China and Pakistan began negotiations over the boundary east of the Karakoram Pass, and in 1963, the two countries settled their boundaries largely on the basis of the MacCartney-Macdonald Line, while India's claim line in that area does not extend as far north pass the Karakoram Mountains as the Johnson Line^[2]

In July 1, 1954 Prime Minister Nehru wrote a memo directing that the maps of India be revised to show definite boundaries on all frontiers. Up to this point, the boundary in the Aksai Chin sector, based on the Johnson Line, had been described as "undemarcated."^[5]

During the 1950s, the People's Republic of China built a 1,200 km (750 mi) road connecting Xinjiang and western Tibet, of which 179 km (112 mi) ran south of the Johnson Line through the Aksai Chin region claimed by India.^[3][4][2] Aksai Chin was easily accessible to the Chinese, but was more difficult for the Indians on the other side of the Karakorams to reach^[2]. The Indians did not learn of the existence of the road until 1957, which was confirmed when the road was shown in Chinese maps published in 1958^[6].

The Indian position, as stated by prime minister, Jawalharlal Nehru was that the Aksai Chin was "part of the Ladakh region of India for centuries" and that this northern border was a "firm and definite one which was not open to discussion with anybody".^[2]

The Chinese minister, Zhou Enlai argued that the western border had never been deliminted, that the MacCartney-Macdonald Line, which left the Aksai Chin within Chinese borders was the only line ever proposed to a Chinese government, and that the Aksai Chin was already under Chinese jurisdiction, and that negotiations should take into account the status quo.^[2]

[edit] The McMahon Line

Main article: McMahon Line

India and China gained a common border in 1826, with British annexation of Assam in the Treaty of Yandaboo at the conclusion of the First Anglo-Burmese War. Subsequent annexations in further Anglo-Burmese Wars expanded China's borders with British India eastwards, to include the border with what is now Myanmar.

In 1913-14, representatives of Britain, China, and Tibet attended a conference in Simla, India and drew up an agreement concerning Tibet's status and borders. The McMahon Line, a proposed boundary between Tibet and India for the eastern sector, was drawn by British negotiator Henry McMahon on a map attached to the agreement. All three representatives initialed the agreement, but Beijing immediately objected to the proposed Sino-Tibet boundary and repudiated the agreement. After approving a note which stated that China could not enjoy rights under the agreement unless she ratified it, the British and Tibetan negotiators signed the Simla Convention as a bilateral accord. Neville Maxwell states that McMahon had been instructed not to sign bilaterally with Tibetans if China refused, but he did so without the Chinese representative present and then kept the declaration secret.^[2]

V.K. Singh argues that the basis of these boundaries, accepted by British India and Tibet, were that the historical boundaries of India were the Himalayas and the areas south of the Himalayas were traditionally Indian and associated with India.^[7] The high watershed of the Himalayas was proposed as the border between India and it's northern neighbours.^[7] India's government held the view that the Himalayas were the ancient boundaries of the Indian subcontinent and thus should be the modern boundaries of British India and later the Republic of India.^[7]

Chinese boundary markers, including one set up by the newly created Chinese republic, stood near Walong until January 1914, when T. O'Callaghan, assistant administrator of NEFA's eastern sector, relocated them them north to locations closer to the McMahon Line (albeit still South of the Line)^[4]. He then went to Rima, met with Tibetan officials, and saw no Chinese influence in the area.^[4]

By signing the Simla Agreement with Tibet, the British had violated the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907, in which both parties were not to negotiate with Tibet, "except through the intermediary of the Chinese Government", as well as the Anglo-Chinese Convention of 1906, which bound the British government "not to annex Tibetan territory."^[8] Because of doubts concerning the legal status of the accord, the British did not put the McMahon Line on their maps until 1937, nor did they publish the Simla Convention in the treaty record until 1938. Rejecting Tibet's 1913 declaration of independence, China argued that the Simla Convention and McMahon Line were illegal and that Tibetan government was merely a local government without treaty-making powers. In 1947, Tibet requested that India recognize Tibetan authority in the trading town of Tawang, south of the McMahon Line. Tibet did not object to any other portion of the McMahon line. In reply, the Indians asked Tibet to continue the relationship on the basis of the previous British Government.^[2]

Tibetan officials continued to administer Tawang and refused to concede territory during negotiations in 1938^[4]. The governor of Assam asserted that Tawang was "undoubtedly British" but noted that it was "controlled by Tibet, and none of its inhabitants have any idea that they are not Tibetan."^[4] During World War II, with India's east threatened by Japanese troops and with the threat of Chinese expansionism, British troops secured Tawang for extra defense.^[4]

China's claim on areas south of the McMahon Line, encompassed in the North East Frontier Agency, were based on traditional boundaries.^[7] India believes that the boundaries China proposed in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh have no written basis and no documentation of acceptance by anyone apart from China.^[7] Indians argue that China claims the territory on the basis that it was under Chinese imperial control in the past^[7], while Chinese argue that India claims the territory on the basis that it was under British imperial control in the past^[9] The last Qing emperor's 1912 edict of abdication authorized its succeeding republican government to form a union of "five peoples, namely, Manchus, Chinese, Mongols, Muslims, and Tibetans together with their territory in its integrity"^[10] However, V.K. Singh cites the presence of the Mauryan Empire and Chola Dynasty in regions India does not place a claim to but which were heavily influenced by Indian culture.^[7]

Parts of India's claim line in the eastern sector follows a modified version of the McMahon Line. The original line drawn up by Henry McMahon on the Simla Treaty map starts at 27°44’30’’N, starting a trijunction between Bhutan, China, and India, and from there, extends eastwards^[2]. Most of the fighting in the eastern sector before the start of the war would take place north of this line^[4][11]. However, India claims that the intent of the treaty was to follow the highest ridges of the Himalayas. They claimed that South of the high ridges should be Indian territory and North of the high ridges should be Chinese territory. In the Indian claim, the two armies would be separated from each other by the highest mountains in the world.

Starting from the 1950's, when India began patrolling this area, they found that they at multiple locations, the highest ridges fell north of the McMahon Line as shown in the treaty map and their own maps, and they modified their maps to extend northwards to include features such as Thag La, Longju, and Khinzemane as Indian territory^[2]. Thus, the Indian version of the McMahon Line moves the Bhutan-China-India trijunction north to 27°48’N.^[2] India would claim that the treaty map ran along features such as Thag La, though the actual treaty map itself is topographically vague (as the treaty was not accompanied with demarcation), and the treaty includes no verbal description of geographic features nor description of the highest ridges.^[2][12]

[edit] See also

• Sino-Indian War

[edit] References