User:Asha Chakma/sandbox

Dispute between India and China again over Arunachal Pradesh, what is the root of the dispute?
Once again a dispute has arisen between India and China over Arunachal Pradesh.

The matter is related to an international competition to be held in China.

Three players of the Indian Wushu team were issued stapled visas by China.

Despite having an Indian passport, India strongly objected to this move of China and the entire team has withdrawn from the competition.

On Thursday, Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, in response to questions from journalists, said that there can be no discrimination regarding visas of Indian citizens.

He said- We have received information that some of our citizens have been issued stapled visas for an international sports competition in China. This is unacceptable. We have conveyed our protest to China.

China has always questioned India's claim on Arunachal Pradesh. It has also objected to any visit of Indian leader to Arunachal Pradesh.

However, India has repeatedly said that Arunachal is an integral part of India and it cannot be separated.

China had also protested against the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh to Arunachal in 2019. In 2020, China had also objected to the visit of Home Minister Amit Shah to Arunachal.

China's objection
Every time India has rejected China's objection. China claims 90 thousand square kilometers of land in Arunachal Pradesh while India says that China has illegally occupied 38 thousand square kilometers of Aksai Chin in the west.

China calls Arunachal Pradesh as Southern Tibet. There is a 3,500 kilometer (2,174 mile) long border between the two countries. Until 1912, no clear boundary line was drawn between Tibet and India.

Neither the Mughals nor the British had control over these areas. The people of India and Tibet were also not sure about any clear boundary line.

The British rulers also did not bother about this. When a Buddhist temple was found in Tawang, the assessment of the border line began. In 1914, representatives of Tibet, China and British India met in Shimla and the border line was determined.

China never accepted Tibet as an independent country. It did not accept this even in the Shimla Agreement of 1914. In 1950, China took complete control of Tibet. China wanted Tawang to remain a part of it, which is very important for Tibetan Buddhists.

The dispute is years old
In 1949, Mao Zedong formed the People's Republic of China. On April 1, 1950, India recognised it and established diplomatic relations.

India became the first non-communist country to give priority to China in this way.

In 1954, India accepted Chinese sovereignty over Tibet. This means that India accepted that Tibet is a part of China. The slogan 'Hindi-Chini, Bhai-Bhai' was also raised.

In 1914, under the Shimla Agreement, the McMahon Line was recognised as the international border, but in 1954, Nehru recognised Tibet as part of China under an agreement.

Between June 1954 and January 1957, China's first prime minister, Chou Enlai, visited India four times. In October 1954, Nehru also visited China.

In 1950, China launched an attack on Tibet and took control of it. The Chinese attack on Tibet changed the geopolitics of the entire region.

Before the Chinese invasion, Tibet was closer to India than China. After all, Tibet was no longer a sovereign country.

China also started encroaching on Indian territories in the mid-1950s. In 1957, China built a 179-km-long road to the west through Aksai Chin.

Conflict on the border
The first clash between the soldiers of both the countries on the border took place on 25 August 1959. The Chinese patrol team attacked Longju on the NEFA Frontier. On 21 October of the same year, firing took place in Kongka, Ladakh.

17 Indian soldiers were killed in this and China called it an action taken in self-defense. India had then said that 'its soldiers were suddenly attacked.'

LAC also became LOC?

It was after the Chinese attack that Tibetan Buddhist religious leader Dalai Lama had to flee. Dalai Lama set foot in India on 31 March 1959. On 17 March, he left Tibet's capital Lhasa on foot and crossed the Himalayan mountains and entered the Indian border after 15 days.

In April 2017, when Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama visited Arunachal Pradesh, China strongly protested and said that India should not have allowed this and India would not benefit from it.

On June 2, 2017, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a panel discussion at the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia, "Even though there is a border dispute between China and India, not a single bullet has been fired on the border between the two countries in the last 40 years."

China welcomed this statement of Prime Minister Modi and accepted it wholeheartedly.

But India is not in a position to say this now. In June 2020, there was a violent clash between the soldiers of both the countries in the Galwan Valley. 20 Indian soldiers were killed and according to information received from China, four of its soldiers were killed.

Even after that, minor clashes have been taking place between the soldiers of both the countries in the border areas.

Claims & Counterclaims
India shares a 3,488 kilometer long border with China. This border passes through Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.

This border is divided into three sectors - Western Sector i.e. Jammu and Kashmir, Middle Sector i.e. Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and Eastern Sector i.e. Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.

The demarcation between the two countries has not been completed yet as there are differences between them regarding many areas.

India claims Aksai Chin in the western sector but this area is currently under the control of China. China occupied this entire area during the 1962 war with India.

In the eastern sector, China claims Arunachal Pradesh. China says that it is a part of Southern Tibet. China also does not accept the McMahon Line between Tibet and Arunachal Pradesh.

China says that it was not present when the representatives of British India and Tibet signed this agreement in 1914. It says that Tibet has been a part of China and hence it cannot take any decision on its own.

Actually, in 1914, Tibet was an independent but weak country, but China never considered Tibet an independent country. In 1950, China took complete control of Tibet.

Overall, China does not accept the McMahon Line in Arunachal Pradesh and also rejects India's claim on Aksai Chin.

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