Claims on Arunachal Pradesh Again - Back to “Old School” Days
How can two nations be great neighbours, as Indian Prime Minister recently spoke of India and China, if one of them is back again to it’s territorial claims, which was resolved already ….. a dirty politics on behalf of Chinese politicians.
Many many years ago, the great historian Dr R C Majumdar spotlighted the traditional Chinese way of perceiving and feeling, thinking and acting: ‘There is, however, one aspect of Chinese culture that is little known outside the circle of professional historians. It is the aggressive imperialism that characterized the politics of China throughout the course of her history, at least during the part of which is well known to us. Thanks to the systematic recording of historical facts by Chinese themselves, we are in position to follow the imperial and aggressive policy of China from the third century BC to the present day, a period of more than 2200 years. It is characteristic of China that if a region once acknowledged her nominal suzerainty, even for a short period, she should regard it as a part of her empire for ever and she would automatically revive her claim over it even after a thousand years whenever and wherever there was a chance of enforcing it.’
While some countries or states finish arguing their territories by now, there is one big territorial dispute between China and India. The region is called Arunachal Pradesh, which means “land of the dawn-lit mountains” or “land of rising sun.” Arunachal Pradesh is located in the northeast corner of the India and bordered on the north by the Tibet region of China and on the east by Myanmar. After Sino-Indian War in late 1962 ended, this territorial dispute also seemed to have ended. This region acquired an independent political status in January 20th, 1972, when it was declared as Union Territory, an administrative division of India ruled directly by the national government, under the name of Arunachal Pradesh. The state of Arunachal Pradesh Bill was passed by the Parliament in 1986 and with effect from February 20th, 1987; Arunachal Pradesh became the 24th state of Indian Union. Even though Arunachal Pradesh is administrated by India as a state, China still claims most of it as a part of the Tibet Autonomous Region.
China is again posing its hard stand on Arunachal Pradesh it seems. According to a report, the new Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi had told Pranab Mukherjee in Hamburg last week the simple presence population in the region may not affect Chinese claims on the boundary.
The statement made by Chinese foreign minister had surprised the government of India. Two years back, both the countries had signed an agreement and according to the article 7 of the agreement says that in reaching a boundary settlement, the two sides shall safeguard due interests of their settled populations in the border areas.
Why make claims when China KNOWs that India WONT GIVE IT AWAY . I don’t think India want’s to have another J&K situatuation on her map ….
…. or I at least hope so.
Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India and such statements should not be made by China in future.
August 18th, 2007 at 11:50 am
What I don’t understand is, why are the Chinese so stubbornly demanding Arunachal Pradesh? Its not just the PRC, Taiwan also claims AP.PRC swallowed up Tibet,Xinjiang,and has disputes with Japan and several nations over some islands. Are they just land-hungry? They are not content with having the largest army in the world and are now building up their armed forces even more. Their economic might is also incredible. It seems their plan is simple- make them selves too powerful on every front, then do what ever you want-claim whatever land/resources you want. That’s why they are not interested in settling this dispute-they are biding their time. They are preparing for the day when no nation can stop them, and then they will probably invade AP.
Meanwhile, Indian politicians are concerned with the next elections………
November 15th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
Surely one day China will annex Arunachal Pradesh and gift Kashmir to Pakistan. But Indian politicians will be still thinking of saving their vote bank
April 24th, 2008 at 9:59 am
Actually Tibet has nothing to do with Arunachal Pradesh.
The Simla agreement is invalid since that area which is now Arunachal Pradesh was part of the Kingdom of Bhutan. See this map here:
http://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/gaz_atlas_1931/fullscreen.html?object=39
So there is no question of the Tibetans giving the land to India or China refusing to give it. It was never theirs to begin with.
In any case Genghis Khan invaded and occupied China and his descendent’s founded what is now “China”. So if anything that entire area which is now so called “China” belongs to Mongolia.
The so called “Chinese” should stick to making fried rice and noodles and not try to pretend to be anyone other than Genghis Khan’s illegitimate children.
June 21st, 2008 at 9:02 pm
If you look at the land area of today’s China and compare it with a map of China 200 years ago (i.e. The Qing Empire), you will come to realise why the Chinese (regardless whether it is the PRC or ROC/Taiwan) have so many territorial disputes.
Firstly,
1. China is the country which shares borders with the largest number of countries.
2. China’s land area has been decimated through the past 200 years due to unfair treaties which were forced upon her when she was weak by the Western imperialists.
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1. TIBET - Tibet has been part of China for more than a thousand years, after Tibet voluntarily gave itself up to Chinese control during the Yuan Dynasty. The current “independence” proposed by Tibet was started due to British infleunce in Tibet in the late 19th Century as Britain sought to turn Tibet into a buffer state between British India and China. PRC did not swallow up Tibet in 1950, it was taking over ROC territory in the course of the Chinese Civil War. Tibet was already part of Nationalist China prior to 1950.
2. XINJIANG - Also known as East Turkestan, Xinjiang was under Chinese vassal rule until 1732, when Qing Dynasty Emperor Qianlong’s Westward campaign confirmed Chinese rule over Xinjiang. Xinjiang gained independence once between 1932-35 as the islamic Republic of East Turkestan, until the Nationalist Government of Chiang Kai-shek retook Xinjiang from the Muslim separatists. Hence, PRC did not swallow up Xinjiang, it was already a part of China way before the PRC was founded in 1949.
3. DIAOYUTAI - Diaoyutai Islands was a part of China under the control of Taiwan Province which was annexed by Japan in 1895. Following the surrender of Japan in 1945, the island was placed under U.S. trustee and not returned to China like the rest of Taiwan and its outlying islands. In 1972, U.S. returned the island to Japan instead of China, hence the dispute.
Some other examples- lost areas of China
1. Tannu Urankhai - North of Mongolia, Tannu Urankhai was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1921 and incorporated into the Soviet Union as Tuva Republic.
2. Mongolia Region (Outer Mongolia) - An essential component of China, the Soviet Union latched onto independence forces in Mongolia and forced Mongolia to split from Chinese rule in 1924, forming the Mongolian People’s Republic.
3. Sakhalin Island and Outer Manchuria (Chinese Siberia) - In the Treaty of Peking in 1860, Imperial Russia forced China to give up 120,000 sq. km. of land north of the Amur River and cede Sakhalin Island in perpetuity.
Chinese territory bordering present-day Tajikstan (USSR), India and Burma (Britain) were also annexed in small parcels in the late 19th and 20th Century. Arunchal Pradesh is one of them.
The Republic of China on Taiwan, the successor of the Qing Dynasty, has never renounced its claims on these lost areas, which were unfairly forced upon China during her moment of weakness in the 19th and early 20th Century.
And you people said the Chinese are the aggressive party!