The border dispute between India and China spreads over the Western, Eastern
and Central sectors. The differences are minimal in the Central sector. In the Western sector China is in occupation of much of the Indian territory it lays its claim on; claims to more territory are merely for bargaining. It is in the Eastern sector where differences are most difficult to be sorted out.
In the Eastern sector the Chinese lay claim over Arunachal Pradesh. In the 1962 war the Chinese People’s Liberation Army captured the area. They however, unilaterally withdrew from there subsequently only to revive their claim to the territory again. .
Arunachal Pradesh today is the only issue which has a potential for conflict between India and China. In July 1986 there were reports in the Indian media of Chinese incursions into the Sumdorong Chu [S-C] river valley in Arunachal Pradesh. By September-October, a brigade of the Indian Army 5 Mountain Division was airlifted to Zimithang, a helipad very close to the S-C valley. This was followed by reports of large-scale troop movements on both sides of the border in early 1987, and grave concerns about a possible military clash over the border.
In February 1987, India established Arunachal Pradesh in its Chinese-claimed territories south of the McMahon Line. China never recognized the “illegal” McMahon Line and the “so-called” Arunachal Pradesh. After these events, and India’s conversion of Arunachal Pradesh from Union Territory to state, tensions between China and India escalated
China disputes the McMahon Line as a border between India and Tibet. It rejects the McMahon Line as an imperialist creation and refuses to say where, in its perception the Line of Actual Control [LAC] lies and lays claim to the entire Arunachal Pradesh merely on the basis that a Dalai Lama was born there. It rubbishes the Simla Agreement signed between the British Government and the Tibetan Representatives in 1914 [when Tibet was under its occupation] which recognized the McMahon Line as the border between India and Tibet in the East.
In the early 20th Century Britain sought to advance its line of control and establish buffer zones around its colony in South Asia. In 1913-1914 the representatives of China, Tibet and Britain negotiated a treaty in India. Sir Henry McMahon, the Foreign Secretary of British India at the time, drew up the 550-mile (890 km) McMahon Line as the border between British India and Tibet during the Simla Conference. The so-called McMahon Line, drawn primarily on the highest watershed principle, demarcated what had previously been unclaimed or undefined borders between Britain and Tibet. The McMahon Line moved British control substantially northwards. The Tibetan and British representatives at the conference agreed to the line, which ceded Tawang and other Tibetan areas to the imperial British Empire.
However the Chinese representative refused to accept the line. For China, the McMahon Line, stands as a symbol of imperialist aggression on the country. Since the gap between the positions of China and India is wide, it is difficult for both nations to reach consensus
In December 1988, Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi visited China. The Prime Ministers of the two countries agreed to settle the boundary questions through the guiding principle of “Mutual Understanding and Accommodation and Mutual Adjustment”. Agreement was also reached that while seeking a mutually acceptable solution to the boundary questions, the two countries should develop their relations in other fields and make efforts to create the atmosphere and conditions conducive to the settlement of the boundary questions.
The two sides agreed to establish a Joint Working Group (JWG) on the boundary questions at the Vice-Foreign Ministerial level .An Agreement on the Maintenance of Peace and Tranquility along the Line of Actual Control in the India-China Border Areas was signed on 7 September 1993.
After more than thirty years of border tension and stalemate, high-level bilateral talks were held in New Delhi starting in February 1994 to foster “confidence-building measures” between the defence forces of India and China, and a new period of better relations began. In November 1995, the two sides dismantled the guard posts in close proximity to each other along the borderline in the Wangdong area, making the situation in the border areas more stable.
During President Jiang Zemin’s visit to India at the end of November 1996, the Governments of China and India signed the Agreement on Confidence Building Measures in the Military Field along the Line of Actual Control in the China-India Border Areas, which is an important step for the building of mutual trust between the two countries. These agreements provide an institutional framework for the maintenance of peace and tranquility in the border areas.
During the Indian Prime Minister’s visit to China in June 2003 India and China signed a Memorandum on Expanding Border Trade, which adds Nathu La as another pass on the India-China border for conducting border trade.
During Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s visit to India in April 2005, the two sides signed an agreement on political settlement of the boundary issue, setting guidelines and principles. In the agreement, China and India affirmed their readiness to seek a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solution to the boundary issue through equal and friendly negotiations.
In spite of all this, the border issue remains mired in various bilateral and domestic compulsions and contradictions on both sides. This remains the biggest challenge for the present leadership of the two countries, particularly in the charged situation along the border.
