The Sino-Indian Boundary Issue
begins...


PERCEPTUAL PROBLEMS

The Sino-Indian boundary settlement issue is beset with many perceptual problems. This chapter attempts to clear some of the fog created by these, by examining them dispassionately. Some are related to 'legality' issues, with one side believing in the legality and thus validity of something the other believes is illegal. The classic case is, of course, the issue of the McMahon Line, which China considers illegal.

THE MCMAHON LINE

The Chinese did not recognize an agreement reached on April 27th, 1914, between the British Government of India and the practically independent Government of Tibet. At the tripartite British India-Tibet China conference convened at Shimla (Simla) to arrive at this agreement, the Government of India’s Foreign Secretary, Colonel Sir Arthur Henry McMahon, laid down a line dividing Tibet into an ‘Inner’ Tibet and an ‘Outer’ Tibet (as in the case of Mongolia), and a line dividing India and ‘Outer’ Tibet, thereafter to become known as the ‘McMahon Line’. The British aim at the Shimla Conference was to get China to accept the division of Tibet, and though Chinese suzerainty over Tibet was recognized, China was to enjoy no administrative rights in ‘Outer’ Tibet, and thus be kept back from the borders of India.

A Chinese diplomat, Chen I-fan, was witness to this agreement, and his ‘chop’ is on the map that forms part of the original document, though he did not have the authority to agree to the proposal on behalf of China. The Chinese government had refused to permit their plenipotentiary to proceed to full signature. The presently disputed McMahon Line, which China does not recognize, is the one drawn between the earlier British province of Assam and ‘Outer’ Tibet.

To be continued...