India - China: History and Current situation

Tension on the LAC

India and China are two powerful countries of the Asian Continent. It’s not the first time that India is in a position of war with China. There are several times before, both countries have faced this type of situation before. But, the matter of this time is more adverse and bigger than earlier because we have lost 20 brave soldiers, which is the biggest loss ever since the 1962 Indo-China war. Let's know what is the real reason for this dispute between India & China?

There are two main reasons for this time :

1. The road from Daulat Beg Oldi to 'Leh' - This road is about 260 km long, which was constructed by BRO (Border Roads Organisation) last year. You can see it on the map. This road comes close to the LAC in the Galvan Valley. China says the road is an illegal construction because it lies in Chinese territory. However, India has been consistently denying these allegations of China. Now, the question arises, who is right here?

   
   
   

2. The second reason for the dispute is on Pangong Tso Lake - this lake is about 134 km long. According to India, the lake up to 45 km is from India and the rest is from China. There are some rocks on the northern shore of the lake, also known as 'Fingers'. There are 8 fingers in total and this area is known as 'Finger Area'. India believes that LAC is passing finger 8 and India patrols finger 4. But on 5 May 2020, when Indian soldiers went on patrol there, the Chinese Army i.e. PLA stopped them on 'Finger 2'. This situation is as if you are out of town and someone else has taken over your land, saying that this land is mine. If the person is stronger than you, what will you do in this situation? You will go to the Panchayat or court for an honest verdict. Similarly, the country also wants to resolve this issue through talks at the table. But, there were many rounds of talks that were organized, not much improvement has been seen yet.

So, the question arises that why is there always a dispute between India and China, and why it has not been resolved so far? To understand the whole thing, we have to study about this controversy from the origin.

INDIA – CHINA: THE ORIGIN OF DISPUTE

1914 – It all started at this time. In 1914, India was not. India was then ruled by the British, which was called 'British India'. Indian people are fighting the freedom struggle. At the same time, China had a monarchy, but so weak that Tibet also freed itself. At this time, there was a meeting in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, in which there were three parties. British India, Tibet, and China. The point of this meeting was to set the boundary between Tibet and India. Sir Henry McMahon was the Foreign Secretary of British India at that time. He drew on paper an 890 km long line between British India and Tibet, later known as the "McMahon Line". This meeting also provided solutions to many places for which there was no understanding between British India and Tibet. However, this settlement in Shimla happened just before the First World War and many equations changed in this war. Amidst all this, this agreement which was held in Shimla lost somewhere. 

1937 -  A book named "A collection of Treaties Engagements and sanads relating to India and Neighboring countries" written by "C.A. Aitchison". In short, it is known as “Aitchison’s collection of treaties". In the 1937 edition of the book, the agreement on the Indo-Tibetan border is mentioned.

1947 – On 15th August 1947, India got independence, then India’s border remained the same as the British had set and the McMahon line had been considered as the border between Tibet & India.

1949 – In 1949, Mao’s government came to China, and then Mao captured Tibet. After capturing, China refused to accept the McMahon Line as the border and said that we were tricked in the year 1914. The border was set without telling us.

1959 – On 23^rd January 1959, China officially challenged the McMahon line. The first premier of The people’s republic of China "Zhou Enlai" wrote a letter to PM Jawaharlal Nehru, objecting to the McMahon line. This McMahon line is the real reason for the dispute between India and China, at that time.

1962 - On 20th October 1962, China attacked India by making this dispute an issue and barged into Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh, occupying an area of ​​38,000 and 83,437 square kilometers in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh respectively. The territory of Ladakh is occupied by China, known as Aksai Chin. India tried hard to take back the occupied land, but was unsuccessful. After the end of the war, the area that remained under the control of India and China created a new border known as the LAC (Line of Actual Control). India continued to consider this occupation as illegal until 1993.

1993 - On 21^st June 1991, Congress rule came under the leadership of Narasimha Rao, and then later in 1993, the Indian and Chinese governments decided to consider LAC as their border. India then abandoned its old claim (which was the McMahon Line) and agreed to accept the Line of Actual Control (LAC) as its boundary. This was the first time that the Indian and Chinese governments signed an official agreement on the LAC issue.

Agreements Between India & China on LAC :

Now, going through all the points of the agreements, you might be thinking that the Chinese military is violating the agreement. But the fact is, when there were several meetings between India and China in 1993 over the LAC, the dispute remained over some areas.

You can say "why"? There was an agreement for this. India was also ready to accept LAC as a border. So, why did this controversy persist?

On the LAC issue, India and China compared each other's maps, but China did not accept the maps prepared by India. After occupying a large land of Ladakh (Aksai Chin) and Arunachal Pradesh (about 83437 sq km) in 1962, it was evident from the Chinese side that they still claim more land than that. There is a total of 23 locations throughout the LAC, which are still considered disputed, and from these locations, there are frequent reports of Chinese incursions. Understand these places with the help of a map.

The Border between India and China is about 3488 km. Long. It is divided into 3 parts which are also known as “Sectors”.

1. Western Sector – Border with Ladakh
2. Middle Sector – Border with Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand
3. Eastern Sector – Border with Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh

In these 23 disputed places, 11 places are in the Western Sector, 4 of them are in the Middle Sector, and 8 in the Eastern Sector. In the western sector, the dispute is at 11 places, but this time China also described Galvan valley as disputed.

Recent Activities :

• The biggest concern of India is the presence of the Chinese army near Pangong Tso. China is no longer willing to talk on Pangong Tso Lake. On this matter, the Chinese ambassador says that "the process of reducing tension on the LAC is completed, the PLA (People's Liberation Army) is in its territory in Pangong Tso." This is a sign that the Chinese army will not back down now.

• China is building all alternative routes around Ladakh and wants to connect to its national highway 219 or G219, (it is a national highway from China's Kargilik to Lhasa in Tibet, about 2700 km long, since 1950. Was started. Completed in 1957) which means that the border i.e. LAC can be reached at the earliest. If China succeeds in doing so, then the movement of PLA in East Ladakh will be much easier, which is not good news from India's point of view.

The great Chanakya has said in his policy that if you want to defeat your enemy, you have to destroy every aid that, he has received. But what to do if rogue and the fraudulent country in front? "Target his economy".

This is what the Indian government is doing, our government has so far banned 224 Chinese apps in three stages, which includes many popular apps like PUBG, Tik-Tok, UC Browser, VPN for Tik-Tok, Helo, Likee, etc. This step has been taken by India because of the increasing tension on the LAC, but how much it will affect the Chinese army i.e. PLA (People’s Liberation Army), it is difficult to say. The barbarity of China can be gauged from the fact that there was an attempt to infiltrate by the unbridled army of China when the high officials of both countries were talking.

Despite claiming the lands of almost all the neighboring countries, China says that to date they have not taken even an inch of the land of others. China talks of peace, but persecutes its people, betraying them. Hong Kong is the best example of this. Our LAC with China is about 3,488 kilometers long, but such a long line has neither a pole, no wires, nor any line that sets a boundary. They never want to solve this issue so that they can continue to infiltrate and encroach into the land of India. On the night of 29 and 30 August, when the Chinese army wanted to re-infiltrate into the southern area of ​​Pangong Tso, this time our army was fully prepared. What was to happen then? Were banished.

You may recall that after the removal of Article 370, the Hon'ble Home Minister of the country stated in the Lok Sabha that "PoK" and "Aksai Chin" are integral parts of India and we will withdraw it. I think China has been upset ever since. If we talk about the G-219, we will find that it is a very important road in China and China will not take any risk of losing it at any cost. If the war starts, China's mainland will be far away from here and China also knows how close this place is to our mainland? This is why they are scared inside.

But, nobody wants war. At present, COVID is the biggest problem in the whole world, including India and our economic situation is also not very good. Not only the soldiers fight at the border, but the whole country also fights with them, but no country can tolerate infiltration in their territory. Till now, the Indian Army has kept restraint, which is praised by all. But the armies of both countries are sitting opposite each other, even the smallest mistake of someone can lead to a bigger war. Well, Beijing wants to confuse us, but our biggest achievement will be when this border dispute is resolved at the earliest.

How much you like this post, please do comment in the comment box. It means a lot to me. and what's your point of view regarding this.

Thank you