NEW DELHI: India is maintaining silence on an official statement of China that says “China has never recognized the so-called Union Territory of Ladakh set up unilaterally and illegally by India” for two consecutive days after the Supreme Court verdict on Article 370.
Till the filing of this report, India’s Ministry of External Affairs, had not reacted or come out with a statement on this issue. Even usual quick reaction from the MEA or from other organs of the central government is totally missing.
China addressed the Supreme Court order upholding the dismembering of Jammu and Kashmir’s constitutional autonomy for the second consecutive day on Wednesday saying that the verdict “does not change the fact that western section of the China-India border has always belonged to China.”
The Chinese assertion on the border issue makes the issue more complex so far as Indian claim on Aksai Chin and Galwan Valley that witnessed violent clashes between the Indian Army and People’s Liberation Army of China in June 2020 that claimed lives of more two dozen army personnel on both sides. China made its position on Aksai Chin and adjacent areas clear.
The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning on Tueaday said that China’s position on Kashmir has been “consistent and clear-cut” – that it needs to be resolved peacefully and appropriately in accordance with the UN Charter, Security Council resolutions and relevant bilateral agreement – but did not explicitly refer to Ladakh.
On Wednesday, she was asked about the Union Territory of Ladakh at the daily briefing, to which she said, “China has never recognised the so-called Union Territory of Ladakh set up unilaterally and illegally by India. India’s domestic judicial verdict does not change the fact that the western section of the China-India border has always belonged to China.”
After the signing of Shimla Agreement between India and Pakistan on July 2, 1972, New Delhi has consistently maintained that there was scope for any third-party mediation in Kashmir with the assertion that it was solely a bilateral matter between two countries.
In August 2019, China said the “reorganisation” of Jammu and Kashmir was “unacceptable”, particularly the separation of Ladakh into a Union Territory. At the time, Union Home Minister Amit Shah told parliament that both Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and Aksai Chin are integral parts of Jammu and Kashmir.
In the year after J&K’s autonomy was revoked, China convened three closed meetings of the UN Security Council to discuss the matter. What transpired at those meetings could not be publicly known. It was well-known that China was keeping cards close to its chest before official making any statement on the internal developments in J&K.
In mid-2020, Chinese troops went beyond the traditional patrolling points in eastern Ladakh, which resulted in intense hand-to-hand fighting at Galwan Valley and the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese troops.
While the armies have gone in for de-escalation at multiple friction points after multiple rounds of talks during the past over three years, the stand-off continues at two strategic points. India has not mentioned Aksai Chin in any public statements in recent years except for the statement made by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in August 2019.
On Monday, the Supreme Court upheld the Indian government’s 2019 decision to ‘read down’ Article 370 of the constitution which removed Jammu and Kashmir’s autonomy. The Indian government had also bifurcated the state and turned the two new entities into Union Territories – Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir.
“The Kashmir issue, left from the past, needs to be resolved peacefully and appropriately in accordance with the UN Charter, Security Council resolutions and relevant bilateral agreement. Parties concerned need to settle the dispute through dialogue and consultation so as to maintain regional peace and stability,” she said at the daily media briefing on Tuesday.
Earlier, Pakistan had rejected the Supreme Court’s ruling, stating that it doesn’t recognise the supremacy of the Indian constitution over Kashmir.
Pakistan’s caretaker government on Monday (Dec 11, 2023) rejected the judgement announced by India on the status of Jammu and Kashmir.
“Pakistan categorically rejects the judgement announced by the Supreme Court of India on the status of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally recognized dispute which remains on the agenda of the United Nations Security Council for over seven decades,” Pakistan’s caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani said.
“The final disposition of Jammu and Kashmir is to be made in accordance with the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions and in accordance with the aspirations of the Kashmiri people. India has no right to make unilateral decisions on the status of this disputed territory against the will of the Kashmiri people and Pakistan,” he added.
He then said that the Kashmiri residents have an inviolable right to self-determination under UN Security Council resolutions.
“We will certainly write to the UN, the United Nations Secretary-General, OIC Secretary General, the European Union parliament, basically apprising them of the futility of this decision, its legality; we will point out the illegalities and the contradictions that are there in this decision,” Jilani said.
India responded to Ladakh challenge resolutely: EAM
India has had an “exceptionally difficult” challenge along the northern borders in the last three years and the country responded to it very resolutely and has been maintaining the kind of military deployment necessary for national security, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar claimed on Sunday on the lingering row in Eastern Ladakh with China.
He said this in an address at the FICCI, while explaining how the Modi Government makes choices after choices with confidence however difficult and tough they may be.
“It could even be what happens at our border. Again you all know in the last three years, we have had an exceptionally difficult time in terms of the challenges on our northern borders,” Jaishankar said.
“Even though this happened in the middle of Covid, yet we responded very resolutely, very determinedly and to date we are still deployed in whatever manner is necessary for our national security,” he said.
“If somebody else is uncomfortable, that’s their problem,” he said.
“At the end of the day, we have to do what we have to do. However difficult and tough that is. It is about the confidence of being able to exercise choice after choice,” he said adding such an approach will “define us as Bharat”.
India, China hold another WMCC meeting, no sign of breakthrough
India and China held another round of diplomatic talks on Thursday, November 30, 2023, on the lingering border standoff in the Eastern Ladakh sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), though there were no immediate signs of a breakthrough in resolving friction points on the disputed frontier.
This was the 14th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on India-China Border Affairs since the standoff began in May 2020, and the two sides had an in-depth discussion on proposals to resolve remaining issues and to achieve complete disengagement in Ladakh, according to a readout from the external affairs ministry.
The readout made no mention of specific forward movement to address existing friction points at Demchok and Depsang, where troops from both sides remain deployed near the LAC. Dozens of rounds of diplomatic and military talks have resulted in the two sides withdrawing troops from other friction points, such as the north and south banks of Pangong Lake, Gogra and Hot Spring.
“The two sides reviewed the situation along the LAC in the Western Sector of the India-China border areas and engaged in an open, constructive and in-depth discussion of proposals to resolve the remaining issues and achieve complete disengagement in Eastern Ladakh,” the readout said.
India, China agree to hold another round of talks
The two sides further agreed on the “need to maintain peace and tranquility along the border areas, ensure a stable situation on the ground and avoid any untoward incident”.
India and China agreed to continue the dialogue through military and diplomatic channels and to hold the next round of the senior military commanders’ meeting “at the earliest to achieve the above objective”, the readout said.
After the standoff emerged in the open in May 2020, the WMCC first met virtually in June of the same year, shortly after a brutal clash in Galwan Valley. The first fatalities on the LAC in 45 years took bilateral relations to the lowest ebb since the 1962 border war between India and China. Both sides now have close to 60,000 troops, each stationed along the LAC in the Ladakh sector.
The Indian side of the WMCC was led by the joint secretary (East Asia) of the external affairs ministry, while the director general of the boundary oceanic affairs of China’s foreign ministry led the Chinese delegation. The WMCC last met in New Delhi on May 31, 2023.
Senior military commanders of the two sides have held 20 rounds of talks since the start of the standoff, and the last meeting was held on the Indian side of the Chushul-Moldo border meeting point from October 9-10, 2023.
The Chinese leadership has contended the two sides have begun moving towards normalised management of the border situation, which should be put in an “appropriate place” while the two countries work to take forward relations in other spheres such as trade. India has insisted that the situation on the LAC continues to be abnormal, and the overall relationship cannot be normalised till peace and tranquility is restored on the LAC.
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