China is boxing both itself and India in an unsustainable situation in Ladakh. You will gain nothing and lose a lot from the current match. There can be no Asian century if India and China are at odds, with China trying to prevent India’s rise and India ready to develop partnerships to limit China’s overwhelming ambitions. China cannot seek partners in Asia beyond Pakistan to chain India, while India may seek powerful partners outside Asia to counter China’s muscle flexing and self-centered economic policies.
China’s presence in Ladakh has been ab initio that of an aggressive intruder. With no historical claim on Ladakh, he has manufactured one by occupying Tibet and then poaching in Indian territory. His claim on Ladakh has no basis in common law, as Han China has never set foot in this area. He illegally built the Aksai Chin road and invented the 1959 claim line to protect it. After organizing the 1962 conflict, he extended his claim to more territory in Ladakh. These desolate high-altitude areas cannot be permanently physically occupied, so these claims are theoretical based on presumed military capability. The 1959 line was drawn unilaterally by China and was rejected by Nehru even then. After the border-related agreements of 1993, 1996, 2005, 2012 and 2103 based on existing perceptions of LAC (not the 1959 line), hence the protocols to patrol in disputed areas, for China to return to the 1959 line as the basis of the disconnection. it shows once again how China disgraces the deals to fit its strategy and why its foreign policy is fundamentally unscrupulous.
In 1996, China agreed to clarify LAC on the map in order to establish each side’s perception of where it was. After exchanging maps for the central sector, China unilaterally withdrew from the exercise in 2002 for deceptive reasons when the author was secretary of foreign affairs. However, even in 2006, the joint statement issued during President Hu Jintao’s visit stated in paragraph 22: “The joint working group on the India-China border issue will accelerate its work, including clarification and confirmation of the Line of Control… It was agreed to complete the map exchange process indicating their respective perceptions of the entire LAC alignment based on parameters already agreed upon as soon as possible ”. That the Chinese now dismiss this because this exercise will create new disputes is a hollow rationalization of their habit of violating agreements at will.
The last balloon flying on the 1959 line is China’s information war designed to deceive and deceive, and some in India have fallen prey by suggesting that both sides should retreat some distance from this line and create a buffer zone. that will patrol the underside. In other words, accept Zhou EnLai’s proposal made 61 years ago and withdraw from our own territory patrolled by us to pacify China. That is defeatism.
China’s arrogant rejection of the new map of Ladakh is an affront. The map does not question China’s sovereignty, as the UT’s external borders have not been changed. If China questions our right to change the internal borders of our states, we should remind China about its review of Tibet’s historical internal borders and, worse, seek to extend its external borders to India. We should react more strongly to China’s questioning of our sovereignty in Ladakh. Our last statement has a higher tone, but its tone must be raised for China to hear correctly. From now on, we should always refer to the boundary between India and Tibet, not the boundary between India and China.
The writer is former Secretary of Foreign Relations
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