On a day when China stated that it does not recognise “illegally established union territory of Ladakh”, India on Tuesday asked Beijing to refrain from advancing “an untenable unilateral interpretation of the Line of Actual Control (LAC)”.
The Ministry of External Affairs said that the Indian government has never accepted the so-called unilaterally defined 1959 LAC.
The MEA minced no words in accusing China of transgressing the de-facto border and attempting to unilaterally alter the status quo. “It is China which by its attempts to transgress LAC in various parts of the Western Sector tried to unilaterally alter status quo,” the MEA said.
“We’ve seen report quoting a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement on China’s position on Line of Actual Control in India-China border areas. India never accepted the so-called unilaterally defined 1959 LAC. The position has been consistent, well known; including to the Chinese,” the MEA stated.
“Under their various bilateral agreements including 1993 Agreement on Maintenance of Peace & Tranquility along LAC, 1996 Agreement on Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) in military field, 2005 Protocol on Implementation of CBMs, 2005 Agreement on Political Parameters & Guiding Principles for settlement of the India-China Boundary Question, both India and China have committed to clarification and confirmation of the LAC to reach a common understanding of the alignment of the LAC,” the ministry said further.
“The two sides had engaged in an exercise to clarify and confirm the LAC up to 2003, but the process couldn’t proceed further as Chinese didn’t show willingness. Therefore, the Chinese insistence now that there is only one LAC is contrary to solemn commitments made by them,” it added.
India called on China to “sincerely and faithfully” follow all agreements and understandings “in their entirety and refrain from advancing an untenable unilateral interpretation of the LAC”.
The 1959 LAC claim
China’s Foreign Ministry had earlier said that it abides by the version of the LAC which was proposed by its then premier Zhou Enlai to then Indian PM Jawaharlal Nehru in a letter dated November 7, 1959.
“Firstly, China-India border LAC is very clear, that is the LAC on November 7, 1959. China announced it in the 1950s, and the international community including India are also clear about it,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said last week in a statement released in Mandarin.
“However, ever since this year, the Indian Army has continued to arrive and illegally cross the border, unilaterally expanding the scope of actual control. This is the source of tension on the border issues. The key to disengagement between the two armies is India’s withdrawal of all illegal cross-border personnel and equipment,” it added.
In the 1959 letter, Zhou had written to Nehru: “In order to maintain effectively the status quo of the border between the two countries, to ensure the tranquillity of the border regions and to create a favourable atmosphere for a friendly settlement of the boundary question, the Chinese government proposes that the armed forces of China and India each withdraw 20km at once from the so-called McMahon Line in the east, and from the line up to which each side exercises actual control in the west.”
India has officially rejected this unilateral interpretation of the LAC by China.
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