Basics of India -China divergence of approach on border.

The border dispute between India and China persisted due to divergence of approach on the issue. They are the only known neighbours not separated even by a mutually defined line of control leaving their entire 4,057-kilometer frontier in question. While China appears to fit well with the status quo as it keeps India under strategic pressure, Indian diplomacy is neither guided by the past nor by the cardinal principles of reciprocity, leverage and pragmatism. After the debacle of 1962 it resumed border talks in 1981 but the Line of Actual Control is yet to be demarcated. The first requisite to good- neighbourly relations is a defined front line as the famous proverb goes, 'good fences make good neighbours.'

The entire India-China border can be divided into three; the border to the east of Bhutan, the central or middle border across Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh and the border separating Jammu and Kashmir from the Chinese territories of Xinjiang and Tibet. The boundary of Kashmir with Xiniang and Tibet is about 1100 miles, of which the frontier of Ladakh forms nearly two-thirds. Traditionally, at least from the 10th century, important points on the present alignment were recognised as the limits of Ladakh and Tibet. This whole area of the Aksai Chin plateau and the Lingsi Tang plains was administered by the Government of Ladakh and Kashmir and utilized for grazing by the people of Ladakh. A regular sequence of official records, stretching over many years, provides testimony on such matters as revenue assessment, police jurisdiction, public works' projects, census returns, control of trade routes and survey and mapping operations. The boundary of te middle sector lies along the major watersheds; and its delimitation secured confirmation in the treaty of 1954 between India and the People's Republic of China. The eastern sector has the trijunction of India, Burma and China and it also follows the major watersheds.

Before conclusion of the agreement and demarcation of McMahon line in 1890, British rulers of India made a treaty with China that delineated the Indo-Tibetan border. The treaty was rejected by Tibetan rulers and Russia's interference appeared imminent in that country's affairs. In order to check Russian influence Lord Curzon, the then Governor-General, sent British Indian troops in 1904 under the command of Younghusband that resulted in a 1906 treaty with China acceptng Chinese suzerainty over Tibet. It also provided that...