New Dehli : Days after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to China, Indian National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval has raised objections to the manner in which China deals with the border dispute with India, and hinted at its hypocrisy in the matter.
Doval, however, cautioned that India could not ignore the dispute. “We have to settle this dispute. China is an important country for us. It is one of the world’s largest economies. It has got a long border with us. It has a special relationship with Pakistan. Both these countries are nuclear and not the kind of democracies that we are,” Doval said.
Speaking at a BSF function, Doval said China’s claims on Tawang (in Arunachal Pradesh) were in contravention of accepted principles of border settlement. Calling it hypocrisy, Doval said China was ready to accept the McMahon Line on its border settlement with Myanmar but not with India.
He stressed that any diplomatic relation with China was incumbent upon resolving the border issue. The statements are significant given that India has been trying to articulate a stance where it is willing to resolve the border dispute, but also ready to push its own terms for the same.
“China’s stand on the border dispute has been in complete contravention of accepted principles. They have accepted the McMahon Line while settling the border with Myanmar, and then they say that the same line is not acceptable in case of India, particularly in Tawang. The settled population in these areas has been part of the national mainstream (of India) all through,” Doval said while delivering the Rustamji Memorial Lecture on the 50th anniversary of BSF’s foundation.
He also said that while bilateral relations were improving, forces needed to remain vigilant. “With China we have got a very long border which is 2,488 km long; a very difficult terrain. In the bilateral relation with China, border is a critical and vital issue. All advancements in bilateral relations we make vis-à-vis, China centres around the border dispute. Maintenance of peace on the border is important for this,” Doval said.
“For the last 30 years, not a single bullet has been fired. But the number of intrusions has gone up and down over the past one year. Bilateral relations have improved of late but we need to remain vigilant. We are particularly worried about the eastern sector,” he added.
It may be mentioned here that Sovereignty over two large and various smaller separated pieces of territory has been contested between China and India. The westernmost, Aksai Chin, is claimed by India as part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir and region of Ladakh, but is controlled and administered as part of the Chinese autonomous region of Xinjiang.
It is a virtually uninhabited high altitude wasteland crossed by the Xinjiang-Tibet Highway. The other large disputed territory, the easternmost, lies south of the McMahon Line. It was formerly referred to as the North East Frontier Agency, and is now called Arunachal Pradesh. The McMahon Line was part of the 1914 Simla Convention between British India and Tibet, an agreement rejected by China.
The 1962 Sino-Indian War was fought in both of these areas. An agreement to resolve the dispute was concluded in 1996, including “confidence-building measures” and a mutually agreed Line of Actual Control.
