Thursday, May 16, 2013

Chinese daily blames British for confusion over Aksai Chin--Confusion over Aksai Chin, the area occupied by China during 1962 war with India, was created by colonial British rulers

Chinese daily blames British for confusion over Aksai Chin
Confusion over Aksai Chin, the area
occupied by China during 1962 war with India, was created by
colonial British rulers who have never presented it to Chinese
governments in the past, an article in an official daily here
said today.
    "India's claim to Aksai Chin is mainly based on the
Johnson Line proposed in 1865. Aksai Chin was put inside
Kashmir in the proposal. However, the line was never presented
to the Chinese government and was severely criticised for its
gross inaccuracies by the British government, which had
dominant colonial power in India at that time," an article in
the Global Times said today.
    From the 1950s, India started establishing outposts in
the area, having set up 43 in its heyday in the border regions
of Xinjiang and Tibet, it said.
    The site of the latest standoff, referred to as the
Depsang Valley, is called Tiannan River Valley by the Chinese.
    It is located in the western sector of Aksai Chin, which
is largely a vast high-altitude desert covering an area of
about 37,000 square km, the article, a compilation of views of
Indian and Chinese analysts on the recent stand off, said.
    Aksai Chin is also one of the two main disputed border
areas over which China and India fought the 1962 war.
    The area is administered by China as part of Hotan county
in the Hotan prefecture of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous
Region. India regards Aksai Chin as a part of the Ladakh
district, it said.
    Although China dismantled the Indian outposts after the
1962 war and has since reinforced its actual control of the
area, Indian troops continue to patrol the area, it said.
    A Chinese analyst Hu Shisheng, an expert on South Asia
research at the China Institute of Contemporary International
Relations refuted the perception that India is getting closer
to Japan, Vietnam, Korea and Myanmar apprehending aggressive
moves by China.
    India is unlikely to become an ally with countries
involved in territorial disputes with China, Hu said.
    "Only if India maintains its strategic independence can
it maximize gains from its relations with other countries," he
said.

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