Beijing may be trying to ‘fix’ LAC alignment as per its 1960 claim

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 26

China, with its recent military activities along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, looks to be trying to ‘fix’ the LAC alignment as per its unilateral claim line proposed as a boundary with India during discussions in 1960.

The claim line has been disputed by India which has overlapping claims eastwards of this 1960 cartographic belligerence by Beijing. Since 1960, there have been suggestions on demarcating the LAC on ground, but with no success. The buildup at ‘Finger-4’ north of the Pangong Tso to block Indian Army patrol teams from moving eastwards; the attempt to block patrol point 14 in the Galwan valley and the ensuing clash; the buildup at Gogra in Hot Springs area and the setting up of new radars and observation posts and stationing of tanks in the Depsang plains indicate at China’s attempts to ‘fix’ the LAC as per its 1960 claim line, a senior functionary said.

Used often, the diplomatic phrase ‘troops patrolling in own claimed areas along the LAC’ refers to these disputed sections of the LAC which

are claimed by both sides. Various protocols and border management guidelines agreed upon since 1993 mention how the troops have to behave on coming face-to-face when patrolling in these disputed areas. The 1960 Chinese Claim Line (CCL), in areas facing Daulat Baig Oldie, Depsang plains, Murgo and the Chip Chap river, stretches several kilometres west of the 1956 claim line, originally proposed by Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai at talks with India. An additional 5,100 square km area was claimed in the cartographic aggression in 1960.

The 1960 claim line and Nehru’s subsequent November 1961 ‘forward policy’ led to the 1962 war.

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