China has released its “Standard map “of 2023, in which it has included a high-strategic feature Aksai Chin in eastern Ladakh, and the state of Arunachal Pradesh. This is a big mischief to provoke a strong reaction from India with a very clever move to divert attention from the aggressive moves of Chinese troops at the Line of Control (LAC) in Ladakh where troops from both sides are locked in a hostile standoff since April-May 2020. India is keen to resolve the issue at the earliest, while China is sitting over the matter and delaying the lasting solution on the borders.
The timing of the release of the Map-August 28 – four days after an informal meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese president Xi Jinping in Johannesburg on the sidelines of the BRICS summit, in which it is given out that India showed urgency in resolving the border issue – is intriguing. More intriguing is the fact that it is a little over week before the commence of G20 summit of which India is holding presidency for the year- that this map has been released.
India has protested and told Beijing to shun its habit of calling areas of other countries as its own. This is unacceptable. china has been playing this game for long. It has been claiming ever since the military standoff began in April-May 2020 that it has not violated the agreement of peace and tranquility on LAC. In short, it is a translation that India has been told that it will have to reconcile with the current status of the LAC, where China has made military advances and set a new version of the borders in Ladakh. There are two major friction points Demochok and Despang Plains from where China refused to disengage and de-escalate despite 19 rounds of military commander level talks, and the talks held at the highest level.
It was natural to expect that, after the Modi-Xi- meet in Johannesburg, South Africa, on the sidelines of the BRICS summit, there would be a forward movement in addressing the border issue, especially on the sidelines of the G20 summit early next month. China, by releasing its “standard map” has sought to preempt the dialogue on the issue, whether Chinese president comes for the summit, or at extreme level if he decides to stay away. China has written its rule book on the borders, and wants India to live with it.
The harsh reality reveals itself in two-folds. One, China is in physical possession of Aksai Chin ever since India lost 1962 Sino-India war. China has used Aksai Chin card to put India on defensive on the border talks, because it has already drawn its own strategic red line along the LAC in eastern Ladakh post April-May 2020. It has pinned India on the developments that have taken place at the LAC for the past over three years, in precise time frame of 40 months. The time frame and the reach to the issue of Aksai Chin is frozen in 1962 and there was no talk about it India for long owing to 1962 syndrome. The only time it surfaced with greater emphasis was when Amit Shah spoke on the necessity of abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019. He claimed that “India will get back Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir from Pakistan and Aksai Chin from China and whatever it may take to d0 so. Subsequently India had released its own map of the two union territories of Jammu and Kashmir Ladakh, on November 2, 2019. The map showed POJK part of the UT of J&K, Gilgit-Baltistan and Aksai Chin in the map of Ladakh UT. Ladakh UT had come into being as a result of split of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, the announcement of which was made on August 5, 2019, but in reality came into being on October 31, 2019.
Second, China wants to talk about LAC issue on its own terms, and obviously telling India that its claims will have to confront the reality on the ground. The fact is that the reality on the ground is not in favour of India. It is a bitter truth.
Aksai Chin, the barren land, also known as Soda plain, is very important strategically. India wants to maintain its claim on it where there is zero population to assert that the region belongs to it, a reiteration of historical fact sheet, while China wants to keep a watch over the activities of India, and Central Asia. It is strategic victory which ever country holds it. China is claiming Aksai Chin, despite owing what the history is, because of its strategic advantage. India, reiterated its claims time and again to remind China that the territory is Indian.
There is yet another strategic reason for India to continue to claim that Aksai Chin is its land under the illegal occupation of China, as is its claim that POJK belongs to it. Ceding claim on Aksai Chin, would amount to foregoing claims on POJK, which went to Pakistan after 1947-1948 war. Aksai Chin was part of Ladakh even after the Independence in 1947. Any change in the stand would encourage both Pakistan and China to justify their illegal claims on the territories held by them, and it may also encourage China and Pakistan, two iron-clad friends, to stake more and more claim on J&K and Ladakh.
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