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India seeking a deeper involvement of Chinese army to resolve boundary dispute
A pact with China to maintain peace along the line of actual control will be Indias topmost priority when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh lands in Beijing on Tuesday. The landmark Border Defence Cooperation Agreement, aimed at maintaining status quo and stability along the nearly 4,057 km of line of actual control (LAC), mandates no shooting at or even tailing of each others patrols and provides for setting up of a hotline between Director General of Military Operations of the two countries on the lines of the mechanism that India has with Pakistan. Singh is also expected to discuss with his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang additional confidence building measures for peace along the LAC.
India is seeking a deeper involvement of Chinese army in resolving the boundary dispute, which remains the biggest irritant in bilateral ties, with both sides sticking to their divergent stands.
According to external affairs ministry officials, who did not wish to be named, Chinese troops started transgressing into the Indian territory after the government decided to create a mountain corps of Indian Army, and deploy a Sukhoi squadron and reactive advanced landing grounds in the border states. Earlier this year, there was a threeweek standoff between Indian and Chinese troops 30 km southeast of Daulat Beg Oldi in Ladakh.
Settlement of the boundary dispute remains an uphill task, evident from the efforts required to reach a consensus on the pact. The two sides exchanged three to four drafts of BDCM before it could be finalised, Jawaharlal Nehru Universitys Professor Srikanth Kondapalli, a noted China expert told ET. While India insisted on equal security along the LAC, the Chinese side called for demobilisation of troops by 20 km by both countries along the boundary.
India is already at a disadvantage, with China placed at higher altitude in the Tibetan region , said Kondapalli . India and China are currently holding negotiations across the three sectors of LAC. The LAC traverses western (Ladakh, Kashmir), middle ( Uttarakhand, Himachal) and eastern (Sikkim, Arunachal) sectors. The term LAC gained legal recognition in Sino-Indian pacts signed in 1993 and 1996.
The 1996 pact stated, No activities of either side shall overstep the line of actual control. India alleges that China has illegally occupied 38,000 sq km in J&K (Aksai Chin). At the heart of Sino-Indian boundary dispute is the issue of Arunachal Pradesh (90,000 sq km), which China describes as Southern Tibet. China is demanding that at least the Tawang tract of Arunachal should be transferred to China before any settlement of dispute.
To bolster disputed status of J&K and Arunachal, China had issued stapled visas to the residents of these two states. China has also emphasised that the Sikkim issue will be resolved with the border dispute, a position very different from the earlier understanding that Beijing had accepted Sikkim as part of India.
A section of the Indian establishment believes that Beijing wants to delay resolution of the dispute by another two decades. These officials say the Chinese believe they will be decisively ahead of India by 2032-35.
India seeking a deeper involvement of Chinese army to resolve boundary dispute - The Economic Times
A pact with China to maintain peace along the line of actual control will be Indias topmost priority when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh lands in Beijing on Tuesday. The landmark Border Defence Cooperation Agreement, aimed at maintaining status quo and stability along the nearly 4,057 km of line of actual control (LAC), mandates no shooting at or even tailing of each others patrols and provides for setting up of a hotline between Director General of Military Operations of the two countries on the lines of the mechanism that India has with Pakistan. Singh is also expected to discuss with his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang additional confidence building measures for peace along the LAC.
India is seeking a deeper involvement of Chinese army in resolving the boundary dispute, which remains the biggest irritant in bilateral ties, with both sides sticking to their divergent stands.
According to external affairs ministry officials, who did not wish to be named, Chinese troops started transgressing into the Indian territory after the government decided to create a mountain corps of Indian Army, and deploy a Sukhoi squadron and reactive advanced landing grounds in the border states. Earlier this year, there was a threeweek standoff between Indian and Chinese troops 30 km southeast of Daulat Beg Oldi in Ladakh.
Settlement of the boundary dispute remains an uphill task, evident from the efforts required to reach a consensus on the pact. The two sides exchanged three to four drafts of BDCM before it could be finalised, Jawaharlal Nehru Universitys Professor Srikanth Kondapalli, a noted China expert told ET. While India insisted on equal security along the LAC, the Chinese side called for demobilisation of troops by 20 km by both countries along the boundary.
India is already at a disadvantage, with China placed at higher altitude in the Tibetan region , said Kondapalli . India and China are currently holding negotiations across the three sectors of LAC. The LAC traverses western (Ladakh, Kashmir), middle ( Uttarakhand, Himachal) and eastern (Sikkim, Arunachal) sectors. The term LAC gained legal recognition in Sino-Indian pacts signed in 1993 and 1996.
The 1996 pact stated, No activities of either side shall overstep the line of actual control. India alleges that China has illegally occupied 38,000 sq km in J&K (Aksai Chin). At the heart of Sino-Indian boundary dispute is the issue of Arunachal Pradesh (90,000 sq km), which China describes as Southern Tibet. China is demanding that at least the Tawang tract of Arunachal should be transferred to China before any settlement of dispute.
To bolster disputed status of J&K and Arunachal, China had issued stapled visas to the residents of these two states. China has also emphasised that the Sikkim issue will be resolved with the border dispute, a position very different from the earlier understanding that Beijing had accepted Sikkim as part of India.
A section of the Indian establishment believes that Beijing wants to delay resolution of the dispute by another two decades. These officials say the Chinese believe they will be decisively ahead of India by 2032-35.
India seeking a deeper involvement of Chinese army to resolve boundary dispute - The Economic Times
