Indo-China Border Dispute: Taming the ghosts of Past
The recent increased tension on the LAC and death of 20 Indian Soldiers and has revealed the shocking fact that the border which sits in the serene photographic areas has many fault lines underneath but if we see this through the lenses of history we will find out that this is not a recent phenomenon and it has unfolded gradually in more than 150 years.
Just like any other border problem in the world, the foundations of this border bitterness were laid in the late 19th century by the British when Russia desperately wanted a warm water port cause all of its ports cease to function in the harsh Russian winter, and to achieve that it started to expand on the centre by dominating the politics of many central Asian Khanates like Kazak(modern day Kazakhstan), Bukhara(modern day Uzbekistan) and when in 1829, ottoman forces lost to Russian resulting in treaty of Adriople, which gave Black Sea access to the Russians, thus British though India is gonna be next and they didn’t wanted to lose their prized possession and thus British started the Great Game, to create a series of buffer states between Russia and India that would minimize the threat of Russia to indian subcontinent. Britain wanted to expand the boundaries of India to such a degree that it became more and more defensible for the defending forces and that would be the start of the Indo-China border problem. The tensions ended in 1907 with the Anglo-Russian Convention where they divided their sphere of influence.
India’s relation with Tibet
India’s relation with Tibet is very ancient, both fall in the route of the Silk Road and hence have a great trading relations with each other. Their relations goes beyond the trade and there was also tremendous cultural exchange between both sides, Buddhism which is the prevalent religion of Tibetians was introduced by the missionaries from India during the 8th or 9th century, but these two civilisations gradually drifted apart and there was very little relation between these two civilisations for nearly a thousand year, which was re-established once again in the late 19th century through the help of British emissaries, notably Warren Hastings who send Scotman George Bogle to the then Panchem Lama of Tibet in 1774 and thus establishing an official communication channel between the two nations.
In 1903, British invaded Tibet fearing that Russia was trying to hold control of it and thus providing a staging point for any future invasion into British India. Tibet and Britain signed a treaty at Lhasa effectively making Tibet a British Protectorate.
This treaty was revised by the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 which effectively ended the great game, where British accepted Tibet being under the Suzerainty of China and to not engage with Tibet directly unless making China a party.
Brewing border tensions in Eastern Sector
The state of Assam(which included the whole of present day Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram , Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh) was incorporated into British empire by treaty of Yandabo in 1826 and thus British India started to share a border with Tibet.
British came to know that one of the major trading town, Tawang fell under the Tibetian jurisdiction and thus wanted to settle a border but Tibet was reluctant to do so.
But after Mongolia declared independence from China in December 1911, Tibet also declared independence from China in 1913 and the internally fragmented central authority of China was not in a position to control its remote regions. Tibet was seeking a formal recognition of independence from a foreign power to legitimate its independence, Britain which was very keen to settle the border dispute seemed to them that power which can give legitimacy for Tibet’s independence.
But the treaty of 1907 between Russia and Britain recognised chinese suzerainty over Tibet and mandated them to mediate through China for any agreement with Tibet and hence in, 1913 Tibet, Britain and China met at Shimla(then Simla) under the presidency of Henry Macmahon to settle the status of Tibet. British wanted to split Tibet into two parts, Inner and the Outer Tibet, the inner Tibet being in control of China and the outer one being under control of Lhasa and being a buffer state between Tibet and Russia dominated Mongolia.
A convention was signed between British and Tibetians, although China didn’t sign this convention but his representative has put his initials on the final draft of this convention on 3rd July 1914 after nine months of strenuous and sometimes heated discussions.
It stipulated that ‘the Governments of Great Britain and China recognising that Tibet is under the suzerainty of China, and recognising also the autonomy of Outer Tibet engage to respect the territorial integrity of the country, and to abstain from interference in the administration of Outer Tibet (including the selection and installation of the Dalai Lama), which shall remain in the hands of the Tibetan Government at Lhasa’. The text also states that ‘the Government of China engages not to convert Tibet into a Chinese province. The Government of Great Britain engages not to annex Tibet or any portion of it.’
The Tibetans did not get what they wanted, a full recognition of their independence, but China had to pledge to send only a ‘high official’ with ‘suitable escort’ that should ‘in no circumstances exceed 300 men,’ and ‘it is also understood that the selection and appointment of all officers in Outer Tibet will rest with the Tibetan. Although the main discussion was regarding the division of Inner and outer china but a part of convention included the map of boundaries of outer and inner Tibet which clearly shows the boundary of Tibet and north east of British India being that of the Macmohan line.
Chen Yifan, the representative of China who has put his initials in the final draft refused to sign the convention citing that Tibet was an eternal part of the “celestial” realm but it can be argued that the boundary of Tibet and India was a bilateral issue and therefore China was not needed to be a party to the separate Anglo-Tibetan declaration. This line was forgotten for more than 20 years till 1935 when a British official Frank Kindon-Ward was arrested by Tawang authorities when he tried to enter that area without any permission from Tibetan authorities, thereafter to solidify their claim in the region British officially started to use this line to show the border between Tibet and India.
A declassified 1959 US CIA document states that despite the drawing of Mcmahon line in 1914, nothing was done thereafter to extend the administrative control into the hills.
Border dispute at the Western Sector
Ladakh, which was geographical similar to Tibet and inhabited by ethnic Tibetan who practised the same sect of Buddhism as that of Tibetians and maintained relations with Tibet and Bhutan. But they lost their independence 1834 when the forces of Sikh empire occupied the region and Sikh empire lost their independence six years later in 1842 when they were defeated by East India Company’s forces and hence ladakh came under the territory of Jammu and Kashmir, who acknowledged the British paramountcy. According to the 1846 treaty of Amritsar, the northern frontiers of Jammu and Kashmir was to be defined by the commissioner appointed by East India Company and the Maharaja of Kashmir.
In 1865, a junior civil servant of Survey of India named W.H. Johnson proposed a map which included the region as far as Shahidullah (present day Xaidulla in China) within the border of Kashmir. Story goes that he was Indian born and therefore was very less likely to get into high stature of the British Raj, therefore he initiated a survey at his expense and presented those boundaries to the Maharaja of Kashmir, who rightly recruited him and honoured him by making him the Governor of Ladakh for adding 18000 square kms into the territory of Maharaja. Later chief of British Intelligence, Major General John Ardagh proposed this boundary to British India in 1897 which he claimed was more defensible against external Russian aggression. This boundary became known as Johnson- Ardagh line. This boundary was never ratified by Tibet or China Proper.
In 1893, after a meeting in St.Petersburg with a senior chinese official Hung Ta-chen, George Macartney, then consul general of chinese province of Kashgar proposed an updated boundary placed the Lingzi Tang plains, and hence placed most of Aksai Chin region in China. This border, along the Karakoram Mountains, was proposed and supported by British officials for a number of reasons. Karakoram provided a natural boundary to India and China’s presence in the north of Karakoram range provided an additional obstacle to the Russian advance in central asia. Macdonald forwarded this map through a note to the Qing emperor in China but they did not respond to the note. Some historians believe that China believed that it was an accepted boundary.
From 1899–1945, the British used both the Johnson-Ardagh and Macartney-Macdonald, until 1908 british strictly used Macartney-Macdonald line to show the boundary but after Xinhai revolution of 1908 resulted in collapse of central authority in China Xinjiang province, british officially revert back to using the old Johnson map but they made no outpost in the ground to assert their control over that region. In 1927, they updated their line to meet the Karakoram range further south.
Postal atlas published by the government of china between 1917–1933 also showed Aksai Chin according to the Johnson line and so does the Peking university atlas. When British came to know that soviets were surveying the area for the warlord of Xinjiang, they again started to advocate the Johnson line but neither they discussed this issue with Tibet or with China they didn’t establish any outpost over that region and this situation continued till the independence of India.
India inherited the claim from the British, it made its border to the west by including Aksai Chin in its boundaries but excluded the areas such as Shahdulla in the north which was earlier part of the Johnson line. India asserted its claim by relying on custom and usage.
Situation between World War 2 and start of Indo-China Border tensions
The days of Republic of China were numbered after world war 2, the communists won the civil war and Mao Zedong came into power in 1949 and quickly shifted his focus to bringing back Tibet into control of Chinese central government, Tibet asked for military assistance from various foreign power, including India, but was refused help by everyone, China informed India that it was going to invade Tibet, India strongly protested and proposed negotiations on Tibet issue, China invaded Tibet slaughtering its ill equipped armed forces and hence Tibet came into the control of China and for the first time in history both nations became permanent neighbours. China quickly started making a series of military infrastructure along the border.
India also started consolidation of forces along the Macmohan line, it sent a detachment of Assam Rifles to Tawang. For the first time, government offices were introduced in previously unadministered areas, road check posts were set up and civilian police were raised. In 1954 North-East Frontier Tract became the North-East Frontier Area(NEFA) and Indian control was secured all the way to Macmohan line.
During the mid 1950s, the government of India initiated forward policy on the Macmohan line where it established a series of outposts along the Macmohan line as far as Dhola(presently in Tibet) and in 1959, India accepted the asylum request of Dalai Lama and then China started to openly accuse India of fuelling the revolution against Chinese regime in Tibet. This further deteriorated the relations between India and China, but Indian government has not foreseen that this would lead to a full fledged war, as India has supported PRCs claim to Taiwan, for a permanent seat at the UN and its invasion of Tibet. Nehru was more inclined in making a India-China axis as both of these countries have suffered similar fate in history and therefore can be the best ally.
The Invasion
In the mid 1950s, India’s forward patrol discovered that China had built a highway across Aksai Chin, an area claimed both by India and China but effectively controlled by China. Looking at the military buildup on both sides, invasion was not totally unexpected. China invaded the India forward posts on October 20th, 1962, “Indian soldiers were ill equipped and these posts were very hard to be supplied and impossible to defend” in words of Brigadier General John Dalvi of 7th Brigade whose Brigade lost a total of 493 men on that fateful day , and therefore was quickly quickly captured a big chunk of India’s to Walong, an area just north of Assam Valley, but they never crossed into Assam, probably because they have not surveyed till that area.
Unilateral ceasefire was announced by China on November 21st and then they withdrew back to the MacMohan line except for Aksai Chin where they are present till this day. India has not fully recovered from intelligence failure and unpreparedness that caused such defeat till this day.
India Pushes back
Tension again started in 1967 along two mountain passes, Nathu La and Cho La, which connected India’s protectorate of Sikkim Kingdom and Tibet Autonomous Region, when Indian Army started to lay barbed wires along the border. The scuffles started when PLA started shelling them, and as a result more than 150 Indian and more than 340 Chinese soldiers were killed.
It is also considered as Second Indo-China war, but this time India prevailed and destroyed Chinese fortifications in Nathu La and pushed them back to Cho La. It clearly shows that till then both the countries have different perceptions about the location of Line of Actual Control(LAC) and this was the last time that troops of any country were killed till the skirmishes in Galwan Valley on July 15th.
Doklam Dispute
In 2017, Chinese started building a road in Doklam Plateau, an area controlled by Indian Protectorate Bhutan, the plateau lies both in Tibet and Bhutan, but it is considered as a buffer zone which is close to other disputed areas between China and India.
India responded by sending Indian troops and bulldozers with the intention of destroying the road. A standoff ensued resulting in both the troops throwing stones at each other.
In august both countries mutually decided to withdraw from the area and China stopped the construction of that road.
2020 Galwan Valley Dispute
The fight in Galwan valley is not a new thing, during 1962 war, both countries had fought fiercely for this stretch of land in Aksai Chin resulting in the death of 874 chinese soldiers and 38 defenders and loss of Indian post at Galwan Valley.
The chinese forces withdrew from the eastern sector i.e. Arunachal Pradesh after the 1962 conflict but not from the Aksai Chin where it reinforced their 1962 positions.
The 2020 tensions border tension started when India progressed significantly in constructing Daulat Beg Oldi-Darbuk road in Ladakh which ran parallel to LAC which significantly increased the troops mobility in Aksai Chin. This road reduced the power asymmetry and threatened the interest of China.
Between May and June, China seized around 40 square miles of Galwan Valley overlooking Daulat Beg Oldi Road, previously under control of India. On June 8th Indian and Chinese military officials started to talk to de-escalate the situation.
On June 15th, Indian soldiers went to check whether China had withdrawn to find out they had not withdrawn as agreed. They were ambushed by Chinese troops and in hand to out combat, 20 Indian soldiers died. It was a long practice enforced by agreement in 1996 and 2005 between two nations to not use firearms during patrol clashes.
Future of India-China Border Dispute
Although in many people’s opinion India-China border dispute is only gonna end in another war, looking at the previous confrontations from a neutral point of view, we realise that these confrontations came in a cycle and never in our history has it led to more skirmishes.
China during this pandemic is stretching its legs from south china sea, where it sank a Vietnamese fishing trawler to Taiwan, where for the last few weeks it has constantly breached its airspace by sending bombers and territorial water by sending aircraft carriers and to Japan where a Chinese submarine was detected by Japanese navy.
According to New York Times (Myers, Steven Lee. “China’s Military Provokes Its Neighbors, but the Message Is for the United States,” June 26, 2020), a tense but manageable situation spiraled out of control because inexperienced replacements of Chinese army from other parts of Tibet did not observe the usual protocols for defusing confrontations.
This situation is bound to calm down, as already indicated by the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi when a foreign minister level talk was held between foreign minister of India and foreign affairs minister of PRC.
But this border problem is nowhere from solving till both the countries are willing to cede some of their interest for other, but both the countries are in grip of Ultra-Nationalist right wing government who form their electoral base by projecting to them the supreme power of their countries and therefore we are bound to see more skirmishes in the border.
