Key Points:
- The LAC claim of 1959 by China has been rejected by New Delhi, India
- Indian Air Force chief Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria described the current standoff as a “no war no peace” situation.
- Chinese have been trying to put this topic forward since the last few months which may lead to affect the uncomfortable calm.
Chinese statement on Tuesday afternoon faced rejection from India as a unilaterally defined boundary by the 1959 claim line law, which it had never accepted. As the border between the two countries in Ladakh and asked the neighboring country to refrain from advancing an “untenable unilateral” interpretation of the de-facto border.
Indian Air Force chief Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria described the current standoff as a “no war no peace” situation during an aerospace seminar in New Delhi on Tuesday.
The move by China to bring up the topic of the 1959 LAC could affect the uncomfortable calm between the two neighbors following the foreign ministers’ meeting on 10 September in Moscow.
China’s foreign ministry has told the Hindustan Times in an exclusive statement that it ‘abides’ by the Line of Actual Control (LAC) as proposed by then-Premier Zhou Enlai to then-Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru back in November 1959.
India and China have committed to clarification and confirmation of the LAC to reach a common understanding of the alignment of the LAC. It is the Chinese side which by its attempts to transgress the LAC in various parts of the Western Sector has tried to unilaterally alter the status quo, referring to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s recent address to Parliament.
Repeated affirmation of the Chinese side have been seen since the last few months about resolving the current situation at the border considering the agreement that is signed between the two countries.
What is the LAC?
- The LAC is the demarcation that splits Indian-controlled territory from Chinese-controlled territory.
- India considers the LAC to be 3,488 km long, while the Chinese consider it to be only around 2,000 km.
- The major differences are in the western sector where the LAC emerged from two letters written by Chinese Prime Minister Zhou Enlai to PM Jawaharlal Nehru in 1959.
