Did China conjure up its narrative on the territorial claim on the Indian border?

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to (not test, but) explore the hypothesis that the People’s Republic of China (1949 to date), hereinafter China, conjured up its narrative on the territorial claim on the Indian border. The body of evidence put together for the purpose has been obtained mainly from the exchanges between India and China on the boundary question between the late 1950s and mid-1960s and the material in respect of the Tibet (Simla) Conference (1913–14). The exploration reaffirms preponderance of evidence that exists to conclude that China conjured up its narrative on the territorial claim on the Indian border.

Keywords:

• Sino-Indian Border
• Tibet (Simla) Conference
• Manchu empire
• Republic of China
• McMahon Line

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. A copy of K’ang-hsi’s map is also available in the British Library, London, India Office Maps, cited in William Huttmann, ‘On Chinese and European Maps of China’, Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, Vol. 14, 1844 at https://www.jstor.org/stable/1798052, p. 118, accessed 15 May 2015; Maps C.n.D._15, British Library, in Mario Cams, Companions in Geography, Leiden, Brill, 2017, p. 184/F.N. 454; Matthew W. Mosca, From Frontier Policy to Foreign Policy: The Question of India and the Transformation of Geopolitics in Qing China, Stanford, Stanford University Press, 2013, pp. 103–107; Peter C. Purdue, China Marches West: The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 2005, pp. 447–461; J.B.B. d’Anville, Nouvelle Atlas de la Chine, Amsterdam, 1737, consulted 1737 reprint edition, New Delhi, Facsimile Publisher, n.d.

2. Olaf Caroe, ‘The Geography and Ethnics of India’s Northern Frontiers’, The Geographical Journal, 126 (3), September 1960, p. 300 at http://www.jstor.org/stable/1793632, accessed 5 June 2010.

3. A copy of the second version of Ch’ien-lung’s map is also available in the British Library, London, India Office Maps X/3265, cited in Mosca, no. 1, pp. 107–126; 341–344/Note S. Nos. 28, 62 & 68; and Huttmann, no. 1, pp. 119–120; consulted Ch’ien-lung’s map (without coordinate lines) appended to Hsi-yu-tu-chih (1762), compiled on the orders of Ch’ien-lung, reproduced in Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs, Atlas of the Northern Frontier of India, New Delhi, 1960; hereinafter Atlas, Map No. 10.

4. Mosca, No. 1, pp. 106 and 341/F.N. 25.

5. Huttmann, No. 1, pp. 117–127, for an overview of surveying and mapping of the Manchu Empire between c.1700–1843; Mathew H. Edney and Mary Sponberg Pedley, The History of Cartography, Volume 4: Cartography in the European Enlightenment, Parts 1 & 2, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 2019, pp. 483, 664, 1313–1314, for a survey and mapping of the Manchu Empire by the Jesuits during the 18^th century; and Jack F. Williams, China in Maps, 1890–1919: A Selective and Annotated Cartobibliography, East Lansing, Michigan State University, 1974, for maps of China issued/published worldwide between 1890–1919.

6. Huttmann, No. 1, pp. 122–125.

7. Ibid., p. 122.

8. Mosca, No. 1, pp. 341–342/S.No.28.

9. Sven Hedin, Southern Tibet, Vol. VII: History of the Explorations of the Karakoram Mountains, Stockholm, Lithographic Institute of the General Staff of the Swedish Army, 1922, consulted reprint edition, B.R. Publishing Corporation, Delhi, 1991, p. 77.

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11. Ibid., pp. 32–34; and Report, No. 10, pp. 45–46 & 299/S.No. 12.

12. Rao, No. 10, p. 34; and Report, No. 10, p. 46 & 299/S.No. 13.

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15. P. Mehra, An ‘Agreed’ Frontier: Ladakh, and India’s Northernmost Border 1846–1947, Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1992, pp. 58–59, 64–65.

16. India to Viscount Cross, 14 July 1890, Proc. 243, KW No. 4, in FD, Secret F, July 1890, Nos./225–245, cited in Mehra, No. 15, pp. 59 & 60/F.N. 9.

17. Office notes in Indian Foreign Department, 21 December 1892, Proc. 501 in FD, secret F, January 1893, Nos. 500–510, KW, cited in Mehra, No. 15, p. 75/F.N.

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19. Mason, No. 18, pp. iii, 1–2, 72–74; Burrard (1933), No. 18, p. 122; and Burrard (1929), No. 18, pp. 279–283.

20. Burrard (1929), No. 18, pp. 279–280.

21. Indian Foreign Secretary Cunningham to Nisbet, Resident in Kashmir, Younghusband’s immediate superior during his mission to Sinkiang, 21 August 1890, KW No. 2, in FD, Secret F, October 1890, Nos. 141–170, cited in Mehra, No. 15, p. 62/F.N. 3.

22. F.E. Younghusband, Report of a Mission to the Northern Frontiers of Kashmir in 1889, Calcutta, Government Printing Press, 1890, consulted reprint edition, Delhi, Oriental Publishers, 1973, pp. 100–101.

23. Younghusband to British Indian Foreign Secretary Cunningham, 15 September 1890, KW No. 3, in FD, Secret F, October 1890, Nos. 141–170, cited in Mehra, No. 15, p. 65/F.N. 10.

24. M.G. Gerard a.o., Report on the Proceedings of the Pamir Boundary Commission, Calcutta, Government Printing Press, 1897, pp. 2–3, at https://www.digitalcommons.uni.edu.

25. Diary entry of George Macartney, 15 October 1896, cited in Mehra, No. 15, pp. 103–104 & 105/F.N.18 and Alastair Lamb, The Sino-Indian Border in Ladakh, Canberra, Australian National University Press, 1973, consulted American edition, Columbia, University of South Carolina Press, 1975, pp. 35–36.

26. W & A K Johnston, Atlas of India, Edinburgh and London, 1894, Map No. 3 of Punjab (East) and Kashmir, denotes Aksai Chin as Soda Plains.

27. Diary entry of George Macartney, 8 Dec. 1895, cited in Mehra, No. 15, p. 103/F.N. 17.

28. Office notes of British Indian Foreign Secretary Cunningham, 10 & 25 August 1898, in FD, Secret F, November 1898, cited in Mehra, No. 15, pp. 100/F.N. 5 & 101/F.N. 7.

29. British Minister MacDonald’s Note, Peking, 14 March 1899, to the Tsung-li Yamen, reproduced in Mehra, No. 15, pp. 220–221.

30. Surveyor General of India, Synopsis of the Results of the Operations of The Great Trigonometrical Survey of India, Vol. VII, Northwest Himalaya Series and the Kashmir Survey, Dehradun, 1879, p. 281_c, at https://www.pahar.in.

31. Caroe, No. 2, p. 299.

32. Caroe, No. 2, p. 300.

33. H.H. Risley, Gazetteer of Sikkim, Calcutta, Bengal Secretariat Press, 1894, consulted reprint edition, New Delhi, Low Price Publications, 2010, pp. 18–19.

34. Caroe, No. 2, p. 299.

35. Fu Sung-mu, History of the Creation of Hsi-Kang Province, c.1910, reproduced in Parshotam Mehra, The North-Eastern Frontier: A Documentary Study of Internecine Rivalry Between India, Tibet and China, Vol. I: 1906–1914, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1979, pp. 187–192.

36. Sir Robert Reid, History of the Frontier Areas Bordering on Assam: From 1883–1941, Shillong, Assam Government Press, 1942, consulted reprint edition, Guwahati, Spectrum Publications, 1997, p. 217; and Report of British Indian Captain W.C.M. Dundas, APO Abor Expeditions, to Assam Government, 15 July 1912, No. 337 M, cited in Mehra, No. 35, pp. 40–41.

37. Amended and annotated translation of the 5^th Dalai Lama’s edict, 1680, with remarks thereon, reproduced in Lobsang Tenpa, An Early History of the Mon Region and its Relationship with Tibet and Bhutan, Dharamshala, Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 2018, pp. 195–208.

38. Report, No. 10, pp. 107–108, CR-206/S.No. 2.

39. Rao, No. 10, pp. 62–63; and Report, No. 10, p. 330/S.No. 14.

40. Rao, No. 10, pp. 62–63; and Report, No. 10, p. 331/S.No. 27.

41. d’Anville, No.1.

42. Report, No. 10, p. 108.

43. The 13^th Dalai Lama’s edict, February 1913, reproduced in W.D. Shakabpa, Tibet: A Political History, New Haven, Yale University Press, 1967, consulted reprint edition, New Delhi, Paljor Publications, 2010, pp. 337–340.

44. Treaty Between Tibet and Mongolia, 11 January 1913, reproduced in Mehra, No. 35, pp. 61–63.

45. The RoC delegate’s discussions with A. Rose, McMahon’s Assistant during the Tibet Conference on Chinese Affairs, 15 April 1914; and British Minister’s Memorandum to RoC’s Foreign Office, Peking, 25 June 1914, reproduced in Mehra, No. 35, pp. 94–102 & 132–133, respectively.

46. Report, No. 10, p. 112.

47. Tibetan delegate’s discussions on the Indo-Tibetan frontier with Charles Bell, McMahon’s Assistant on Tibetan Affairs, during the Tibet Conference, New Delhi, 15–31 January 1914, cited in Report, No.10, p. 112, and Mehra, No. 35, p. 173; RoC’s delegate discussions in respect of the frontiers of Tibet cited in McMahon’s 2^nd and 3^rd Memoranda, covering the period of the Conference between 21 November 1913–24 December 1013, and 25 December 1913–30 April 1914, reproduced in Mehra, No. 35, pp. 168–170 & 170–173, respectively.

48. McMahon’s Verbal Statement, 9 March 1914, reproduced in Mehra, No. 35, pp. 79–81.

49. Report, No. 10, pp. 224–226.

50. RoC delegate’s Verbal Statement, 7 March 1914, Mehra, No. 35, pp. 75–79.

51. RoC’s Foreign Minister Sun Pao-chi discussions with John Jordan, British Minister, Peking, 13 June 1914, cited in the Jordan’s message, 16 June 1914, to the British Foreign Secretary Grey, reproduced in Mehra, No. 35, pp. 127–130.

52. McMahon’s Verbal Statement, 7 March 1914, Mehra, No. 35, pp. 79–81.

53. McMahon’s Statement, 17 February 1914, referred to in McMahon’s 3^rd Memorandum covering the period 25 December 1913–30 April 1914, reproduced in Mehra, No. 35, pp. 170–171.

54. McMahon’s Statement, 17 February 1914, Mehra, No. 35, pp. 170–171.

55. Map depicting the Frontiers of Tibet with the signatures thereon of the three delegates to the Tibet Conference, reproduced in Atlas, No. 3, Map No. 23.

56. British Minister John Jordan’s Discussions with the RoC’s Foreign Minister Sun, Peking, 13 June 1914, in Enclosure 1, Proc 373, in Foreign, October 1914, 143–396, Jordan to British Foreign Minister Grey, Jordan papers, reproduced in Mehra, No. 35, pp. 127–130.

57. Report, No. 10, p. 216; and C.U. Aitchison (Compiler), A Collection of Treaties, Engagements and Sanads Relating to India and Neighbouring Countries, Vol. XIV, 1929 edition, reissued 1938 to include the Indo-Tibet Boundary Agreement, 24–25 March 1914 etc., consulted reprint edition, New Delhi, Mittal Publications, 2001, pp. 34–35.

58. Encl. with British Foreign Secretary Grey’s letter to Buchanan, British Ambassador in Russia, 4 May 1914, requesting the latter to inform the Russian Government about the Indo-Tibetan Boundary Agreement (March 1914), in British Foreign Office, Proc. 333 in Foreign, Oct. 1914, 134–396, reproduced in Mehra, No. 35, pp. 91/F.N. 1 & 92.

59. The Sino-Tibetan Chamdo Agreement, August 1918, for the ‘Restoration of Peaceful Relations and the Delimitation of a Provisional Frontier between China and Tibet’, and The Sino-Tibetan Rongbatsa Truce, October 1918, reproduced in Parshotam Mehra, The North-Eastern Frontier: A Documentary Study of Internecine Rivalry Between India, Tibet and China, Vol. II: 1914–1954, Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1980, pp. 5–8 & 9–10, respectively.

60. Minutes by J.C. Walton, 4 June 1936, and M.J. Clauson of India Office, London, 31 August 1936 & 9 September 1936, in IOR, L/P&S/12/36/23, & L/P&S/12/36/29, L/P&S/12/36/29, reproduced in Mehra, No. 59, pp. 95–96, & 97–98, 98–99, respectively, in which although Clauson pointed out that the Indian Foreign Secretary Olaf Caroe had erroneously identified the Tibet Convention, July 1914 in place of the Indo-Tibetan Boundary Agreement, March 1914, as the primary document for the Indo-Tibetan frontier, the mistake introduced by Caroe—wilfully or otherwise—was for some inexplicable reason permitted by the British to linger on. Clearly for want of proper oversight in the matter in post-British India the mistake remained intact that, to begin with, contributed to the reinforcement of the position of those in favour of excluding the Sino-Indian boundary question from the agenda for the talks on the ‘Panchsheel Agreement’, December 1953-April 1954, refer paragraph 3 of MEA’s note, ‘Listing the Strategy for Discussion with China on Tibet’, 3 December 1953, reproduced in A.S. Bhasin, India-China Relations 1947–2000: A Documentary Study, Vol. II, New Delhi, Geetika Publishers, 2018, pp. 970–981. The mistake was carried forward to the Nehru-Chou-Talks, April 1960, refer Nehru-Chou Talks, III & IV, 21, 22 April 1960, reproduced in M.K. Palat (ed.), Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, Vol. 60, Second Series, Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund, New Delhi, 2015, hereinafter SWJN, Vol. 60, pp. 51, 54–55 & 75–76.

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65. Williams, No. 5, p. 8.

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99. Nehru-Chou Talks—IV, New Delhi, 23 April 1960, reproduced in SWJN, Vol. 60, No. 60, p. 70 & 120.

100. Map of ‘The Northern Frontier of British Hindoostan’ in Keith Johnston, The Royal Atlas of Modern Geography, Edinburgh, 1861, cited in Mehra, No. 35, p. 229; and Synopsis, No. 31, p. 281_c.

101. Report, No. 10, pp. 63–64 & 66.

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106. Hedin, No. 9, pp. 161 & 271.

107. Burrard (1933), No. 18, pp. 119, 134 & 250.

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109. Nehru-Chou Talks—IV, New Delhi, 22 April 1960, reproduced in SWJN, Vol. 60, No. 60, p. 71.

110. Nehru-Chou Talks—V, New Delhi, 23 April 1960, reproduced in SWJN, Vol. 60, No. 60, p. 117.

111. Nehru-Chou Talks—V, New Delhi, 23 April 1960, reproduced in SWJN, Vol. 60, No. 60, p. 116–117.

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113. T.D. Forsyth, ‘On Transit of Tea from North-West India to Eastern Turkestan’, Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London, Vol. 13, No. 3, 1868–1869, p. 202, at http://www.jstor.org/stable/1798933, accessed 13 May 2015.

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122. Report, No. 10, p. 121.

123. Report, No. 10, pp. 121–122 & 218–228.

124. Report, No. 10, pp. 121–128.

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128. Mehra, No. 35, pp. xxi-xxii.

129. Lu Hsing-chi, 30 October 1913, to Military Governor, and Administrator, Chengtu, and Lu Hsing-chi, 13 November 1913 to the Cabinet, reproduced in Mehra, No. 35, pp. 159–160/S.Nos. 45 & 46, respectively.

130. Nehru-Chou Talks—IV, New Delhi, 22 April 1960, reproduced in SWJN, Vol. 60, No. 60, p. 69.

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132. Vijay Gokhale, The Long Game: How the Chinese Negotiate With India, Gurugram, Vintage-Penguin Random House, 2021, p. 25.

133. English translation of the Memorandum handed over by Wellington Koo, Secretary, Wai Chiao Pu (Foreign Office), to John Jordan, British Minister, Peking, 25 April 1914, reproduced in Mehra, No. 35, pp. 107–124.

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137. Viceroy Hardinge to Secretary of State Crewe, 25 June 1914, reproduced in Mehra, No. 35, p. 212.

138. Report, No. 10, p. 164.

139. Olaf Caroe, ‘Review: Report of the Officials of Governments of India and the People’s Republic of China on the Boundary Question’, The Geographical Journal, Vol. 127, No. 3, September 1961, p. 345, available at http://www.jstor.org/stable/1794957, accessed 11 June 2010.

140. Rules 2 & 3 of Proc. Nos. 106 & 108: Nos. 13 & 23, Calcutta, January 6 & 8, 1906, from Surveyor General of India to the Foreign Department etc., with reference to the meeting in Foreign Secretary’s Office, Calcutta, December 30, 1905, cited in ‘Government of India Rules Regarding Showing Borders on Maps, 1906’, available at https://www.pahar.in.

141. Chou En-lai to Jawaharlal Nehru, 17 December 1959, reproduced in Notes, No. 135, White Paper No. III, pp. 52–57.

142. Chen Cheng-siang, ‘The Historical Development of Cartography in China’, Progress in Human Geography, 2 (1), March 1978, p. 101, at https://doi.org/10.1177/030913257800200106, accessed 1 May, 2020

143. Mullik, No. 93, pp. 306–307.

144. Mullik, No. 93, p. 239; and Gopal, No. 93, p. 97/F.N.118.

145. Nehru-Chou Talks—I, III & VII, New Delhi, 20, 21 & 25 April 1960, respectively, reproduced in SWJN, Vol. 60, No. 60, pp. 20, 57 & 158.

146. Nehru-Chou Talks—II, IV, V & VI New Delhi, 20, 22, 23 & 24 April 1960, respectively, reproduced in SWJN, Vol. 60, No. 60, pp. 24, 29, 67–68, 118, 136 & 142.

147. Nehru-Chou Talks—IV & V & VI, New Delhi, 22, 23 & 23 April 1960, reproduced in SWJN, Vol. 60, No. 60, pp. 70–74, 116, 121 & 148.

148. Gokhale, No. 132, p. 141.

149. Nehru-Chou Talks—IV, New Delhi, 22 April 1960, reproduced in SWJN, Vol. 60, No. 60, pp. 70–72.

150. Agreement Between the Government of the Republic of India and the Government of the People’s Republic of China on the Political Parameters and Guiding Principles for the Settlement of the India-China Boundary Question, April 2005, available at https://www.mea.gov.in.

151. Alastair Lamb, The China-India Border, London, Oxford University Press, 1964.

152. Neville Maxwell, India’s China War, New Delhi, Allied Publishers, 1970.

153. Nehru-Chou Talks—IV, New Delhi, 22 April 1960, reproduced in SWJN, Vol. 60, No.60, p. 73

154. Nehru-Chou Talks—VI, New Delhi, 24 April 1960, reproduced in SWJN, Vol. 60, No.60, p. 145.

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Sunil Khatri

Sunil Khatri is a former Indian civil servant and an independent researcher. Views expressed are personal.