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India-China border talks |
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There has been a meeting last month of the expert level sub-group of the Sino-Indian Joint Working Group on the boundary question, but the significance of the meeting was buried in the hype of the Musharraf-Vajpayee summit. Whereas Gen, Musharraf’s one-point programme was to grab Kashmir from India, the India-China effort at the level of Joint Working Group talks has been to find a resolution of the boundary dispute based on mutual accommodation and understanding. The JWG was entrusted with the responsibility of completing modalities and procedural details for the implementation of the provisions of the Sino-Indian agreement on the maintenance of peace and tranquility. On the Line of Actual Control of 1993 and confidence building measures which were finalized an another agreement during the President Jiang Zemin’s visit in the winter of 1996.
The Joint Working Group revived meetings in 2000 and, on the basis of directives given by the two Foreign Ministers, the experts group entrusted with the task of removing differences of opinion about the delineation of the Line of Actual Control, re-commenced detailed discussions on the subject. A marginally important development was the Chinese side resiling from its initial reservations about exchanging maps on the alignment of the LAC with the Indian side along with details of the location of their posts on the LAC. There are about nine pockets all along the LAC where there are differences of opinion between India and China about the actual location of the line. The positioning of security posts along the line and the implementation of confidence building measures envisaged in the agreements of 1993 and 1996, depend on both sides being clear and in agreement about the actual delineation of the LAC on the ground. India had suggested the exchange of maps on the basis of which discussions could be held to remove the differences of opinion with geographical and cartographic precision.
The Chinese were reluctant to exchange maps in the mid-Nineties and till the beginning of year 2000 because the ambiguity about the LAC could have been conducive to their assuming jurisdictional control along the line perhaps to their incremental advantages, when compared to the position which they held since November 1962. However, given their concerns about maintaining peace and stability in Tibet, and about resolving centrifugal pressures within China, they came to the conclusion that stabilizing the LAC would be in their interest in terms of not alienating India from the seriousness of the discussions envisaged in the 1993 agreement. They first agreed to exchange maps step by step, sectorwise. Both India and China agreed that maps may be exchanged in the central sector of the line of control, namely, the Barahoti sector between Uttaranchal and Tibet. This important decision was implemented in the eighth meeting of the experts working group in the second half of year 2000. The ninth meeting of the experts group was held in New Delhi just recently in the last week of June. The Chinese delegation was led by the Secretary general of their Asia division, Sun Guoxiang. The Indian delegation was led by Vijay Gokhale, the director of the east Asia division of the ministry of External Affairs. The two delegations utilized the opportunity to have their first detailed discussion on differences of opinion about he alignment and delineation of the LAC in the central sector of the line. Once the complex discussions are completed on the basis of clarifications given by both sides, an agreement would be reached on the precise alignment of LAC in this sector after which details regarding location of posts, redeployment of troops and so on, envisaged in the confidence building measures, could be implanted.
In particular, agreement has been reached that maps would be exchanged between the two sides sectorwise over a period of time to cover the entire stretch of LAC. Discussions would be particularly difficult about the differences of opinion on the LAC in the western sector and, particularly so in the eastern sector where the Chinese still hold on their territorial claims regarding Arunachal Pradesh and so on. But what is important is that a beginning has been made to discuss this complex facet of the agreements of 1993 and 1996. It is obvious that the Chinese side continues to have reluctance about exchanging maps because a precise and agreed delineation of the LAC will reduce the territorial and strategic advantages which they are interested in order to maintain the dominating position on the LAC. So the Indian side remains entrusted with the difficult and sensitive responsibility of ensuring an objective and precise delineation of the LAC.
The long-term plan about which India and China are in general agreement is that, first, an agreement should be reached about the precise alignment of the LAC. Second, all the confidence-building measures agreed upon during the last decade should be fully implemented. Third, this should result in the stabilization of the LAC on the basis of undisturbed peace and tranquility on it. Forth, once this is achieved the joint working group on the boundary question should commence discussions on substantive issues of delineating the Sino-Indian boundary avoiding the controversies and irrelevant factors which influenced the negotiating stances of both sides resulting in the failure of the boundary talks in 1961 and the consequent military conflict between the two countries.
The point to be kept in mind is that if the beginnings made in the eighth and ninth rounds of the experts group meetings progress smoothly it should lead to a substantive direction in Sino-Indian relations. While this positive development has taken place on a specific to be a general improvement in Sino-Indian relations. The former Prime Minister and present chairman of he Chinese people’s Congress Li Peng, visited India for three weeks with a business delegation in December last year. The Vice-chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Ms. Najma Heptullah, has visited China during the first week of July leading a composite delegation of members of Parliament and representatives of the Chambers of Commerce and Industry. She has had discussions not only with Li Peng but also with the Prime Minister, Zhu Rongji. Reports on the visit indicate that her delegation was treated with warmth and that it was given access by the Chinese, setting aside normal protocol stipulations. Other developments in the broader strategic and security environment are also contributing to the process of incremental normalization in Sino-Indian relations despite mutual concerns and doubts and some basic differences on some important issues.
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