Arunachal Pradesh: China Claims, But India Administers

Abstract

India's north-easternmost state of Arunachal Pradesh has a border with Tibet and is one of the most extensive territories claimed by the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The watchword here is the "McMahon Line," as Beijing disagrees with New Delhi's position on acknowledging it as the boundary between China and India. China rejects the McMahon Line, which it calls "illegal" and "unacceptable," for the following reasons: first, the Sino-Indian boundary has never been adequately demarcated; no treaty or agreement has been made between the Chinese Central Government and the government of India. Second, Beijing rejected the McMahon Line under the pretext of "imperialist legacy" and disregarded the 1914 Simla Convention between Britain, China, and Tibet because Tibet was not a sovereign state and, therefore, had no power to conclude treaties. Thus, India and China are stuck in the quagmire of an unresolved boundary dispute due to the absence of an internationally accepted boundary between the two countries, the lack of an agreement over the de facto 'Line of Actual Control,' and the border not being demarcated on the ground or delineated on maps. The outcome of being India-China boundary dispute is divided into three sectors: the western sector, the middle sector, and the eastern sector, of which Arunachal Pradesh is a part.