Agreement on the boundary between China's Sinkiang and the contiguous areas [1] | |
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Signed | 2 March 1963 |
Location | Peking |
Effective | 2 March 1963 [1] |
Original signatories |
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Parties | |
Citations | |
Languages | Chinese, English, Urdu |
Full text | |
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The Sino-Pakistan Agreement [lower-alpha 1] is a 1963 document between the governments of Pakistan and China establishing the border between those countries in the disputed Kashmir region. [3]
It resulted in both countries ceding over 1,942 square kilometres (750 sq mi)[ clarification needed ] to the other. Pakistan recognized Chinese sovereignty over land in Northern Areas of Kashmir and Ladakh. [4] [5] However, Indian writers have insisted that in this transaction, Pakistan surrendered approximately 5,300 km2 (2,050 sq mi) of territory to China. [6] [7] India claims the agreement is invalid, and claims sovereignty over part of the land. In addition to increasing tensions with India, the agreement shifted the balance of the Cold War by bringing Pakistan and China closer together while loosening ties between Pakistan and the United States.
In 1959, Pakistan became concerned that Chinese maps showed areas of Pakistan in China. In 1961, Ayub Khan sent a formal note to China, there was no reply.
After Pakistan voted to grant China a seat in the United Nations, the Chinese withdrew the disputed maps in January 1962, agreeing to enter border talks in March. The willingness of the Chinese to enter the agreement was welcomed by the people of Pakistan. Negotiations between the nations officially began on October 13, 1962, and resulted in an agreement being signed on 2 March 1963. [3] It was signed by foreign ministers Chen Yi for the Chinese and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto for the Pakistani.
China was accommodating to Pakistan's positions during the negotiations. [8] For example, according to Pakistani diplomat Abdul Sattar, after the border alignment was already agreed, the Pakistan side realized that grazing lands falling on the Chinese side had historically been used by inhabitants of Hunza. [8] Zhou Enlai agreed to amend the boundary to add 750 square miles to the Pakistan side to preserve this historic use. [8] China's accommodating approach in the negotiations was motivated not just by the desire to resolve boundary issues; China also wanted to demonstrate its desire for calm borders, its peaceful intentions generally, and China wanted to use a successful conclusion to the boundary issues with Pakistan to portray its border issues with India as a result of India's intransigence. [8]
The agreement resulted in China and Pakistan each withdrawing from about 1,900 square kilometres (750 square miles) of territory, and a boundary on the basis of the 1899 British Note to China as modified by Lord Curzon in 1905. Indian writers have insisted that in this transaction, Pakistan surrendered approximately 5,300 km2 (2,050 sq mi) of territory to China (to which they believe it had no right in the first place). [7] The claim given up by Pakistan was the area north of the Uprang Jilga River which also included the Raksam Plots where the Mir of Hunza had enjoyed taxing and grazing rights throughout much of the late 19th Century as part of agreements with Chinese authorities in Sinkiang. Despite this, sovereignty over area was never challenged by the Mir of Hunza, the British or the State of Jammu and Kashmir. [6]
The agreement was moderately economically advantageous to Pakistan, which received grazing lands in the deal, but of far more significance politically, as it both diminished potential for conflict between China and Pakistan and, Syed indicates, "placed China formally and firmly on record as maintaining that Kashmir did not, as yet, belong to India. [9] Time , reporting on the matter in 1963, expressed the opinion that by signing the agreement Pakistan had further "dimmed hopes of settlement" of the Kashmir conflict between Pakistan and India. Under this Sino-Pakistan Agreement, Pakistani control to a part of northern Kashmir was recognized by China. [3]
During this period, China was in dispute with India regarding Kashmir's eastern boundary, with India making claims of the border having been demarcated beforehand and China making claims that such demarcations had never happened. Pakistan and China recognized in their agreement that the border had been neither delimited nor demarcated, providing support to the Chinese position. [10]
For Pakistan, which had border disputes on its eastern and western borders, the agreement provided relief by securing its northern border from any future contest. The Treaty also provided for clear a demarcation of the boundary for Pakistan, which would continue to serve as the boundary even after Kashmir dispute might be resolved. [10]
According to Jane's International Defence Review , the agreement was also of significance in the Cold War, as Pakistan had ties with the United States and membership in the Central Treaty Organization and the Southeast Asian Treaty Organization. [11] The agreement was part of an overall tightening of association with China for Pakistan, which resulted in Pakistan's distancing from the United States. [11] [12] [13] After defining borders, the two countries also entered into agreements with respect to trade and air-travel, the latter of which was the first such international agreement China had entered with a country that was not Communist. [14]
Article six states that pending the final settlement of the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan, a fresh treaty will be drawn up. [15]
The Republic of China now based in and commonly known as Taiwan does not recognize any Chinese territorial changes based on any border agreements signed by the People's Republic of China with any other countries, including this one, in accordance to the Constitution of the Republic of China and its Additional Articles. [16] However, due to political status of Taiwan, Pakistan and PRC do not recognize the legitimacy of ROC in Taiwan. [17]
The Sino–Indian War, also known as the China–India War or the Indo–China War, was an armed conflict between China and India that took place from October to November 1962. It was a military escalation of the Sino–Indian border dispute. Fighting occurred along India's border with China, in India's North-East Frontier Agency east of Bhutan, and in Aksai Chin west of Nepal.
Aksai Chin is a region administered by China partly in Hotan County, Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang and partly in Rutog County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet and constituting the easternmost portion of the larger Kashmir region that has been the subject of a dispute between India and China since 1959. It is claimed by India as part of its Leh District, Ladakh Union Territory.
Hunza, also known as Kanjut, was a princely state in the Gilgit Baltistan region of Pakistan. Initially, it functioned as a principality and subsequently became a princely state under a subsidiary alliance with the British India starting in 1892 and continuing until August 1947. For a brief period of three months, it remained unaligned after gaining independence, and then from November 1947 until 1974, it retained its status as a princely state within Pakistan. The territory of Hunza now constitutes the northernmost part of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan.
The Trans-Karakoram Tract, also known as the Shaksgam Tract, is an area of approximately 5,200 km2 (2,000 sq mi) north of the Karakoram watershed, including the Shaksgam valley. The tract is administered by China as part of its Taxkorgan and Yecheng counties in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Although the Shaksgam tract was originally under the control of India following the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India in 1947, Pakistan took control of the region after the First India-Pakistan War and subsequently ceded it to China in 1963 through the Sino-Pakistan Agreement, and a border based on actual ground positions was recognized as the international border by China and Pakistan. The Shaksgam Tract, along with the entire Kashmir region, is claimed by India. Further, New Delhi has never accepted the China-Pakistan boundary pact, asserting that Islamabad "unlawfully" attempted to cede the area to Beijing.
The Saltoro Mountains form a subrange within the Karakoram Range and are situated in the southeastern part of the Karakoram. They lie on the southwest side of the Siachen Glacier, which is one of the two longest glaciers in the world outside the polar regions. The name "Saltoro" is also associated with the Saltoro Valley, located west of this range and descending on the Pakistani side of the Saltoro Range, which generally follows the Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL).
The Sino–Indian border dispute is an ongoing territorial dispute over the sovereignty of two relatively large, and several smaller, separated pieces of territory between China and India. The first of the territories, Aksai Chin, is administered by China and claimed by India; it is mostly uninhabited high-altitude wasteland but with some significant pasture lands at the margins. It lies at the intersection of Kashmir, Tibet and Xinjiang, and is crossed by China's Xinjiang-Tibet Highway; the other disputed territory is south of the McMahon Line, in the area formerly known as the North-East Frontier Agency and now a state called Arunachal Pradesh. It is administered by India and claimed by China. The McMahon Line was signed between British India and Tibet to form part of the 1914 Simla Convention, but the latter was never ratified by China. China disowns the McMahon Line agreement, stating that Tibet was not independent when it signed the Simla Convention.
At its establishment in 1912, the Republic of China claimed to be the successor state to the entirety of the Qing empire, which included Outer Mongolia. The Republic of China did not recognise Outer Mongolia until 1945; neither country exchanged diplomats between 1946 and 1949. At the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, Mongolia recognised the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China retreated to the island of Taiwan. The Republic of China continued to show Mongolia as part of its territory on official maps until 2002 when they recognised Mongolia as an independent country and established informal relations between the two sides.
India and Taiwan maintain a dynamic and evolving relationship that, while unofficial, is marked by significant economic, technological, and strategic interactions. The trade relationship between the two has seen notable growth, with bilateral trade reaching around $7 billion in 2022. This economic partnership is largely centered on electronics, machinery, and chemicals, with Taiwanese companies like Foxconn establishing manufacturing facilities in India, particularly in the electronics sector.
The territory of the People's Republic of China (PRC) has frequently been revised since its formation on 1 October 1949.
Indira Col West is a mountain pass at 5,988 metres (19,646 ft)) altitude on the Indira Ridge of Siachen Muztagh in Karakoram Range. It is on the border between Indian-controlled Siachen Glacier and the Chinese-controlled Trans-Karakoram Tract, close to the tripoint of India, Pakistan, and China. The India-Pakistan Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL) in the Siachen area ends near the pass. It is possible to ascend the pass from both the north and south sides controlled by China and India respectively.
There are several disputed territories of India. A territorial dispute is a disagreement over the possession or control of land between two or more states or over the possession or control of land by a new state and occupying power after it has conquered the land from a former state no longer currently recognized by the new state.
Gilgit-Baltistan is an administrative territory of Pakistan that borders the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the west, Azad Kashmir to the southwest, Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan to the northwest, the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China to the north, and the Indian-administered region of Jammu and Kashmir to the south and south-east.
Nagar District is a district of Pakistan's Gilgit-Baltistan area in the disputed Kashmir region. It is one of the 14 districts of Gilgit-Baltistan. Nagar District was established in 2015 by the division of the Hunza–Nagar District into two districts: the Hunza District and the Nagar District. The Nagar District is bounded on the north and north-east by the Hunza District, on the south-east by the Shigar District, on the south by the Gilgit District, and on the west by the Gupis-Yasin District. The district headquarters in the town of Nagarkhas.
The Macartney–MacDonald Line was a boundary proposal by the British Raj for the border between the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir and the Chinese-managed territories of Xinjiang and Tibet. Broadly, it represented the watershed between the Indus River system and the rivers draining into the Tarim basin. The line was proposed by British Indian Government to China in 1899 via its envoy in China, Sir Claude MacDonald. The Chinese Government never gave any response to the proposal. The Indian Government believed that, subsequently British India reverted to its traditional boundary, the Johnson–Ardagh Line. Independent scholars have not confirmed the claim.
The China–Tajikistan border is 477 km (296 mi) in length and runs from the tripoint with Kyrgyzstan following a roughly north–south line across various mountain ridges and peaks of the Pamir range down to the tripoint with Afghanistan. The border divides Murghob District, Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region in Tajikistan from Akto County, Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture and Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County, Kashgar Prefecture in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China.
The China–Pakistan border is 596 kilometres (370 mi) and runs west–east from the tripoint with Afghanistan to the disputed tripoint with India in the vicinity of the Siachen Glacier. It traverses the Karakoram Mountains, one of the world's tallest mountain ranges. Hunza District, Shigar District and Ghanche District in Gilgit-Baltistan administered by Pakistan, border Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County and Kargilik/Yecheng County in Kashgar Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China.
Hunza District is a district of Pakistan-administered Gilgit-Baltistan in the disputed Kashmir region. It is one of the 14 districts of the Gilgit-Baltistan region. It was established in 2015 by the division of the Hunza–Nagar District in accordance with a government decision to establish more administrative units in Gilgit-Baltistan. The district headquarters is the town of Karimabad.
Ghizer District is a district of Pakistan-administered Gilgit-Baltistan region in the disputed Kashmir region. It is one of the 14 districts of Gilgit-Baltistan. The former Ghizer District that existed from 1974 to 2019 spanned the entire upper Gilgit River Valley. In 2019, the former district was divided into the Gupis-Yasin District in the west and the present, smaller Ghizer District in the east.
This article is about territorial disputes of the People's Republic of China (PRC). A territorial dispute is a disagreement over the possession or control of land between two or more political entities. Many of these territorial disputes are almost identical to those that the Republic of China (ROC) based in Taipei, also known as Taiwan, has with other countries. Therefore, many of the subsequent resolved disputes made by the PRC after 1949 with other governments may not be recognized by the ROC.