Thread: China and India Dispute Enclave on Edge of Tibet

China and India Dispute Enclave on Edge of Tibet



Indian soldiers at the Buddhist monastery in Tawang, India, in June. There is a massive Indian military buildup in the area.


By EDWARD WONG
Published: September 3, 2009


TAWANG, India — This is perhaps the most militarized Buddhist enclave in the world.

Perched above 10,000 feet in the icy reaches of the eastern Himalayas, the town of Tawang is not only home to one of Tibetan Buddhism’s most sacred monasteries, but is also the site of a huge Indian military buildup. Convoys of army trucks haul howitzers along rutted mountain roads. Soldiers drill in muddy fields. Military bases appear every half-mile in the countryside, with watchtowers rising behind concertina wire.

A road sign on the northern edge of town helps explain the reason for all the fear and the fury: the border with China is just 23 miles away; Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, 316 miles; and Beijing, 2,676 miles.

“The Chinese Army has a big deployment at the border, at Bumla,â€

British Government Redefinition Could Re-Ignite China-India Border Dispute


July 24th, 2009 - by 2point6billion.com
By Chris Devonshire-Ellis


A statement posted on the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office website last year could cause potential conflict over North-East India territories which are also claimed by China. Since the days of the British Raj, the historic border areas between Tibet, British India and China were usually coordinated by the three.

Although some conflicts remain in West China and India due to agreements made by Tibet and British India and not ratified by the Chinese, the new potential for dispute centers on the Eastern territories of India. These have based upon the Simla Accord, signed in 1913 and 1914 in which Britain only recognized the suzerainty of China over Tibet, and not sovereignty.

Suzerainty is a situation in which a region or people is a tributary to a more powerful entity which controls its foreign affairs while allowing the tributary some limited domestic autonomy. The superior entity in the suzerainty relationship, or the head of state of that more powerful entity, is called a suzerain.

The term suzerainty was originally used to describe the relationship between the Ottoman Empire and its surrounding regions. It differs from sovereignty in that the tributary has limited self-rule. This definition for Tibet has never been accepted by China.

The Simla Accord provided that the area referred to as “Outer Tibetâ€

China / India Border Disputes: Arunachal Pradesh, India or South Tibet?


April 14th, 2009
by Chris Devonshire-Ellis


Apr. 14 - With yesterday’s news that China has vetoed plans for an Asian Development Bank loan to India for development of the Arunachal Pradesh region, we take a look at why the region is disputed, where it is, and the commodities and economic benefits possession of the area brings.

The political problems with the region go back to the days of the British Raj, and predate the current government of China’s authority. Indeed, Taiwan claims ownership also under its position as an alleged government of China. Historically, the region was a kingdom, with several mentions of it being made in a number of Vedic texts. It is also mentioned in the Indian epic, the Mahabharata, although it is usually acknowledged that much of the region was a de facto vassal state of Tibet, and that tributes were paid to the Dalai Lama in Lhasa.
Parts of the region however are known to have been administered by Bhutan, and to the east, Burma, until the British annexed India completely in 1858. The region was an important trading route with Lhasa, and connected Tibet to the nearest port, at Calcutta. The sixth Dalai Lama was born in Tawang, in the northwest of the region.

Problems over sovereignty go back therefore to the Chinese claim over Tibet, which was enforced in 1949, and to the “Simla Accordâ€

India and China border dispute festers


21 Nov 2006
Source: Reuters


Nov 21 (Reuters) - Chinese President Hu Jintao holds talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday during a four-day visit aimed at building trust and boosting ties.

Border disputes have plagued relations between the neighbours for decades. Here are some details about those disputes:

OVERVIEW

- The Asian giants still claim vast swathes of each other's territory along their 3,500-km (2,173-mile) Himalayan border, which has remained largely peaceful since a border war in 1962.

- The border was never demarcated. In the years before Indian independence in 1947, British colonial rulers saw little need to demarcate such a remote area and later the two sides were unable to agree on a common border.

- The 1962 war broke out after China occupied 38,000 square km (15,000 square miles) of territory in the remote Aksai Chin plateau on the western stretch of the border, using it to build a road into Tibet. India said the occupation was illegal.

- India also says Beijing is illegally holding 5,180 square km of northern Kashmir ceded to it by Pakistan in 1963.

- China lays claim to 90,000 square km of land on the eastern sector of the border in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.

TIMELINE

1954 - India and China sign an agreement outlining "five principles of peaceful co-existence". India recognises Chinese sovereignty over Tibet.

1956 - China begins construction of a highway linking Xinjiang and Tibet, directly across Aksai Chin.

1958 - China publishes a map showing Aksai Chin as part of its territory; India protests.

1959 - The Dalai Lama flees Tibet and is granted asylum in India, enraging China.

1962 - Border skirmishes escalate into full-scale war. Chinese troops overrun Indian military positions in Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh before a ceasefire. China withdraws to pre-war positions behind the McMahon line dividing the two countries along Arunachal Pradesh. The ceasefire line becomes known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

1963 - Pakistan cedes 5,160 square km of Kashmir to China.

1981-1987 - Eight rounds of border talks end in deadlock.

1986 - India makes Arunachal Pradesh a full-fledged state from a federally ruled territory amid Chinese protests.

1993 - India, China sign agreement to maintain "peace and tranquillity" along the LAC.

1996 - Another agreement is signed to cut military forces along the LAC.

2000 - After two decades of talks, India and China exchange maps on the least controversial middle segment of their frontier.

2003 - Special envoys are appointed to map out a resolution of the dispute; India accepts in writing for the first time that Tibet is part of China.

2005 - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sign an agreement on the "guiding principles" to resolve the dispute; China formally abandons its claim to the Himalayan state of Sikkim.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/DEL198946.htm

China strenghtens rail link with Nepal


May 27th, 2008
by 2point6billion.com


China has begun building a 770-kilometer rail network connecting Nepal to Tibet. The railway an extension of the world’s highest railway, which runs from Golmud in China’s Qinghai province to Lhasa will connect Tibet’s capital Lhasa with Khasa a market town on the Sino-Nepal border, Asia Times Online reported.



The Golmud-Lhasa rail integrated Tibet into China’s national rail network in 2006, with its extension up to the Nepal border, Nepal will be plugged into China’s rail network.

Landlocked Nepal has hitherto largely been dependent on India for imports. With trains from China soon reaching its border, Nepal will find importing from its northern neighbor easier. Sino-Nepal trade will expand exponentially, at India’s expense.

Besides the Lhasa-Khasa railway, China is said to be considering an extension of the Golmu-Lhasa line up to Xigaze, south of Lhasa and from there to Yatung, a trading center, barely a few kilometers from Nathu La, a mountain pass that connects Tibet with the Indian state of Sikkim. There is a proposal too to extend the line to Nyingchi, an important trading town north of the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, at the tri-junction with Myanmar.

These rail lines will bring Chinese trains up to Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh - two Indian states that figure prominently on the radar of Sino-Indian disputes.

The extension of the railway to the Sino-Indian border at Sikkim and Arunachal could pose a threat to India’s security and economy if New Delhi fails to build its own network here to match the Chinese, Indian analysts say.

In July 2006, Sino-Indian border trade was resumed at Nathu La in Sikkim after a gap of 44 years. Officials in the Sikkim government told Asia Times Online that compared with China’s elaborate network of roads and planned railway to Nathu La, “on this side of the border the state of infrastructure is laughableâ€

Why India and China love to disagree


June 20th, 2008
by Nazia Vasi


India and China neighbors although they are, the two countries still don’t see eye to eye on all issues political or economic. Today, even though economists may celebrate the increasing trade between the two nations, its still comparatively very small and India and China both need to reach across the lofty Himalayas to cement ties.

Of late the border issue has been thrown up again with China classifying it as ‘a very sensitive issue’ and India forming human chains on the borders to keep China out. The picture alongside demarcates the disputed areas at the border. Unfortunately, the land dispute between India and China is steeped in history and will probably never be solved. However, we need to look into our past to find solutions into the future.



The following is a chronology of events by NDTV marking Indo-China relations since India’s independence until 2002 when Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji visited India. Six MOUs were signed in New Delhi then to enhance cooperation in Science and Technology, outer space, tourism, phytosanitary measures and supply of hydrological data relating to the Brahmaputra river between India and China.

1947, after independence
India tries to consolidate its position as an independent and sovereign country as the civil war in China reaches its final stage.

December 30, 1949
India becomes the second non-communist country to recognize the Peoples’ Republic of China. The first nation was Burma.

April 1, 1950
K M Panikker appointed as the first Indian Ambassador to China.

December 1950
Nehru backs China’s membership in the United Nations in a Parliamentary debate held in New Delhi.

May 1951
China captures the Tibetan Governor of Chamdo and signs a â€