The Sino-Pakistan Agreement (also known as the Sino-Pakistan Frontier Agreement and Sino-Pak Boundary Agreement) is a 1963 document between the governments of Pakistan and China establishing the border between those countries. It resulted in China ceding over 1,942 square kilometres (750 sq mi) to Pakistan and Pakistan recognizing Chinese sovereignty over hundreds of square kilometers of land in Northern Kashmir and Ladakh. The agreement is controversial, not recognized as legal by India, which also claims sovereignty over part of the land. In addition to increasing tensions with India, the agreement shifted the balance of the Cold War by bringing Pakistan and China closer together while loosening ties between Pakistan and the United States.
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In September 1959, the government of Pakistan became aware that Chinese maps were claiming a portion of Hunza as part of China.[1] By the end of November, Pakistan's president Ayub Khan had requested talks with China clarifying borders, but the Chinese did not respond. During that time, Pakistan became preoccupied with its involvement in the 1960 U-2 incident, but Khan reasserted at various press engagements in 1961 his country's desire to reach an agreement with China on the territory line between them. Anwar Hussain Syed in 1974's China & Pakistan suggests that the Chinese may not have been motivated to negotiate with Pakistan because of Pakistan's relations with India, with which country it was soon to enter the Sino-Indian War.[2] However, as relations between Pakistan and India became further strained and after Pakistan voted to grant China a seat in the United Nations, the Chinese withdrew the disputed maps in January 1962, agreeing to enter border talks in March. They determined to reach a temporary settlement, with the idea of establishing a permanent one after the settlement of the region of Kashmir under dispute between Pakistan and India. The people of Pakistan welcomed China's willingness to enter the agreement, which, along with rumors of other friendly diplomatic overtures, were taken as evidence of improving international relations, but at the same time they were reluctant to alienate the United States, which viewed the talks with concern.[3] Negotiations between the nations officially began on October 13, 1962, and on March 2, 1963, the demarcation committee being chaired by Chaudry Mohammad Aslam. The final agreement was signed by foreign ministers Chen Yi for the Chinese and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto for the Pakistani.
With the agreement, China ceded a little over 1,942 square kilometres (750 sq mi) to Pakistan,[4] while Pakistan, according to 1990's Diplomatic Ideas and Practices of Asian States, recognized "large areas of northern Kashmir and Ladakh (disputed territory held by India)...as belonging to China."[5]
The agreement was moderately economically advantageous to Pakistan, which received grazing lands in the deal, but of far more significance politically, as it both diminished potential for conflict between China and Pakistan and, Syed indicates, "placed China formally and firmly on record as maintaining that Kashmir did not, as yet, belong to India.[6] India does not recognize the agreement, under which China holds 5,180 square kilometres (2,000 sq mi) of northern Kashmir, as legal.[7][8][9] Time, reporting on the matter in 1963, expressed the opinion that by signing the agreement Pakistan had further "dimmed hopes of settlement" of the Kashmir conflict between Pakistan and India.[10]
According to Jane's International Defence Review, the agreement was also of significance in the Cold War, as Pakistan had ties with the United States and membership in the Central Treaty Organization and the Southeast Asian Treaty Organization.[11] The agreement was part of an overall tightening of association with China for Pakistan, which resulted in Pakistan's distancing from the United States.[11][12][13] After defining borders, the two countries also entered into agreements with respect to trade and air-travel, the latter of which was the first such international agreement China had entered with a country that was not Communist.[14]