China quotes Nehru on Sikkim, rejects other parts of letter
China on Monday supported its claim of India trespassing in its territory by citing the 1890 Sikkim-Tibet treaty, and said that India's first PM Jawaharlal Nehru "explicitly recognised" it. However, it rejects what Nehru had written about the 1842 treaty on Ladakh and the drawing of the McMahon line in Simla in 1914, in the same letter in 1959.
To support its claim about India's "trespassing" at the Sikkim border, Chinese Foreign Ministry today said that first Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru "explicitly recognised" the 1890 Sikkim-Tibet treaty that Beijing was citing to back its territorial claims.In the same March 22, 1959 letter, Nehru also reminded China of an 1842 treaty on Ladakh and the drawing of the McMahon line in Simla in 1914, which aren't recognised by China.The Chinese Foreign Ministry also claimed that India was "using the excuse of Bhutan's interests to infringe upon China's territory" and suggested India had sent its troops into Bhutan without the latter's permission.CHINA'S CHARGE AGAINST INDIA"The Bhutan side does not know previously that Indian troops entered Doklam which is not in line with what India claims," said spokesperson Geng Shuang, contradicting India's Friday statement that the Royal Bhutan Army had on June 16 protested the PLA's construction activities in Doklam, with the Indian Army two days later supporting Bhutan and asking China to stop altering the status quo.Citing the 1890 convention which fixes the India-China-Bhutan trijunction at Gipmochi, far south of where India and Bhutan do, the Foreign Ministry said the "illegal trespass of border troops goes against convention and is against basic principles of the UN Charter and international laws"."The action taken by India is undoubtedly a betrayal of consistent position held by India," said Geng, adding that "Prime Minister Nehru explicitly recognised the 1890 convention between Tibet and Sikkim" in a March 22, 1959 letter to the then Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai.India maintains the 1890 agreement only provides the basis of alignment of the boundary, and that the border needs to be finalized by the Special Representatives in maps and on the ground.In the letter Geng cited, Nehru wrote that "The boundary of Sikkim, a protectorate of India, with the Tibet Region of China was defined in the Anglo- Chinese Convention 1890 and jointly demarcated on the ground in 1895."WHAT CHINA DOES NOT MENTIONHowever, in the same letter, Nehru also mentioned agreements on the boundaries in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh, which China now rejects.In fact, in the very same section of the letter, Nehru mentioned the following two agreements: "The Ladakh Region of the State of Jammu and Kashmir- A treaty of 1842 between Kashmir on the one hand and the Emperor of China and Lama Guru of Lhasa on the other, mentions the India-China boundary in the Ladakh region. In 1847 the Chinese Government admitted that this boundary was sufficiently and distinctly fixed. The area now claimed by China has always been depicted as part of India on official maps, has been surveyed by Indian officials and even a Chinese map of shows it as Indian territory."On the McMahon Line, Nehru wrote: "The McMahon Line-As you are aware, the so-called McMahon Line runs eastwards from the eastern borders of Bhutan and defines the boundary of China on the one hand and on the India and Burma on the other. Contrary to what has been reported to you, this line was, in fact, drawn at a Tripartite Conference held at Simla in 1913-1914 between the Plenipotentiaries of the Governments of China, Tibet and India. At the time of acceptance of the delineation of this frontier, Lonchen Shatra, the Tibetan Plenipotentiary, in letters exchanged, stated explicitly that he had received orders from Lhasa to agree to the boundary as marked on the map appended to the Convention." China, however, does not recognise those two treaties.ALSO READ |China will defend territory even at the cost of war with India, says Chinese dailyBeyond Doka La: 10 irritants in India-China relationChina says 1890 treaty backs claims to Doklam plateau at trijunction