Tawang
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Photocopied from India-China Relations 1947-2000: A Documentary Study , Vol-I, edited by Avtar Singh Bhasin (2018).
Contents |
Westerners’ views
Claude Arpi: Before 62, no Chinese had seen the area
Though before October 1962, no Chinese had ever set foot in the area, Beijing still dreams of controlling it.
Located south of the McMahon Line in Arunachal Pradesh, Tawang is one of the most strategic districts in the country.
Though before October 1962, no Chinese had ever set foot in the area, Beijing still dreams of controlling it.
Tawang was in news in 2017, during the Dalai Lama's visit of the border town in April. The fact that the Tibetan leader had come to Arunachal Pradesh six times between 1983 and 2009, did not deter China from creating again a ruckus; Beijing complained that the Lama's religious teachings had been engineered by Delhi in an area China calls 'Southern Tibet'.
Tawang is special in many ways.
Buddhists believe in the concept of sacred places or peethas. During the 10th century, the great Indian yogi Tilopa said that peethas are to be found inside your own self, though "outer peethas are mentioned in the scriptures for the benefit of simple fools who wander about".
Tawang is undoubtedly an 'outer peetha'.
1688
Numerous stories or legends circulate about Monyul or the 'Hidden and Blessed Land of Mon' as the region is known; the local population, Monpas are fond of these legends. Many revolve around Tsangyang Gyatso, the Sixth Dalai Lama who was born in Urgyeling, a village south of Tawang.
'Lama Geno', in Monpa language could be translated as 'the Lama knows'. It is what Tsangyang wrote with his finger on a stone near Urgyeling in 1688.
A high delegation had just arrived from Lhasa looking for the reincarnation of the Fifth Dalai Lama; the boy 'knew' that the Lamas had come to 'take him back' to Tibet.
The Simla Convention/ 1913
History caught up with Tawang in 1913 when two intrepid British 'explorers', Captains Bailey and Morshead scouted the Tibetan side of the 'snow line' in search of a northern border for India. Their experience and notes were invaluable during the Simla Conference in 1914.
In March, Henry McMahon, India's Foreign Secretary sat with Lonchen Shatra, the Tibetan Prime Minister and managed to fix the Indo-Tibet border in the form of a thick red line on a double-page map, that was the McMahon Line.
Thereafter, India had a formal legitimate border in the North-East.
1950: Tibet is invaded
Without warning, in October 1950, Communist China invaded Tibet. Two months later, a dying Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel got the ball rolling to protect India's borders.
With Sir Girija Shankar Bajpai, the MEA's secretary general, he took the initiative to set up a North and North-East Border Defence Committee under major general Himatsinghji, the then deputy defence minister.
The Committee's first decision was to take over the administration of all Indian territories south of the McMahon Line. The experience of Kashmir, where India reacted too late, was not to be repeated.
Assam Governor Jairamdas Daulatram (NEFA was then part of Assam) ordered a young but highly decorated Naga officer, Maj Bob Khathing, to march to Tawang.
1951
On January 17, 1951, Bob, accompanied by 200 troops of Assam Rifles and 600 porters, left the foothills for the historic mission. During the following weeks, the young officer showed his toughness, but also diplomatic skills to pacify the Monpas who were in fact delighted to get, for the first time, a proper administration.
Eight years later, Tawang made the news again when a fleeing Dalai Lama crossed the border at Khenzimane, north of Tawang to take refuge in India.
1962
THE LAND OF MON
Reaching the Sela Pass, at 13,700 ft above sea level between Tawang and Bomdila (West Kameng District), one feels as if entering another world. But one is reminded that the area was the theatre of the 1962 Sino-Indian conflict.
A small mandir is dedicated to the memory of Jaswant Singh, the heroic rifleman who defended the pass and earned a Maha Vir Chakra in November 1962.
Looking at the old bunkers, one can vividly imagine the incredible sufferings and bravery of the jawans and officers of the Indian Army, abandoned by an irresponsible leadership (a visit to the 1962 War Memorial in Tawang is also a must).
Two hours later, the first glimpses of the Tawang Gompa ('monastery') perched on one of the highest hills overlooking the Tawang Chu Valley ('chu' is 'river' in Monpa) are breathtaking.
Lakes and tourist attractions
Tour operators will of course also take you visit to Sangestar Tso, also known as 'Madhuri' Lake. After Rakesh Roshan shot Koyla (starring Madhuri and Shah Rukh Khan), jawans posted in the area began calling it 'Madhuri'; it used to be a grazing pasture before becoming a lake after the dreadful earthquake of August 1950.
Locals say there are as many as 108 lakes in the area, many of them larger and more stunning, many having been blessed by great tantric masters and yogis. A few kilometres away is the Tagtsang Gompa (the 'Tiger Lair' monastery), perched at 13,500 ft.
It is one of the several pithas that Guru Padmasambhava, the great Indian tantric master who helped establishing Buddhism in Tibet, Bhutan and the Himalayan belt, visited.
Seeing these exquisite places, one understands why China covets it, but it will never be part of the Middle Kingdom; the Monpas are one of the most patriotic tribes of the country. Further, driving to Tawang, one passes enough Army camps to realise that the Land of Mon is well-guarded.
India-baiting Maxwell: India annexed Tawang in February 1951
Indpaedia.com: Neville Maxwell is an India-baiter. But this shows that the Government of India brought Tawang into India in 1951.
India could make public the reasons behind “annexation” of Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh in 1951, said Neville Maxwell, author of ‘India’s China War’ that is banned in India.
“India annexed Tawang in February 1951... China did not protest at the time – being fully engaged in Korea, and (did) not made a public issue of it since then; but they have made it known that they would expect retrocession as part of a settlement,” Maxwell told HT.
“The McMahon Line puts Tawang into India, but in their last few years the British had second thoughts and proposed to the Tibetans that the McMahon Line should be modified to run the boundary through Se La, thus leaving Tawang in Tibet, where it was when India became independent (in 1947),” he said.
Authentic history: two telegrams fro, 1951
China’s position
A shifting stance
HIGHLIGHTS
The Dalai Lama is on 10-day visit to northeast.
China's has opposed Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh.
China is more concerned with Dalai Lama's stay in Tawang monastery.
However, India has ignored China's protests over Dalai visit.
As China ramps up its rhetoric against the Dalai Lama's upcoming trip to Arunachal Pradesh, an unfazed India said China has been shifting its position on Tawang, making its current position less credible.
“We have never conceded locus standi to China on Arunachal Pradesh,“ said Ashok Kantha, former ambassador to China and head of the Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS).Countering the Beijing narrative, officials said China has shifted its positions on Tawang over the years to the extent that its current line lacks credibility . China withdrew beyond the MacMahon Line after defeating India in the 1962 conflict, leaving Arunachal Pradesh and Tawang in Indian possession. Neither Chou En Lai in his discussions with Nehru in 1960 nor Deng Xiaoping in 1985 referred to Tawang at all.
Jayadeva Ranade, China analyst, said the first time Tawang entered the official discussion was in 2005, by Dai Bingguo who was the special representative for boundary discussions until 2013. “In 2007, the Chinese identified Monyul (Tawang, Kameng and Dirangzon), lower Zoyul (Lohit valley) and Loyul (territory up to Walong) as central areas of interest to them,“ he said.
In 2006, former Chinese envoy to India Sun Yuxi went back on the 2005 agreement on guiding principles, by denying an important component of the deal to leave populated and settled areas undisturbed. Interestingly , it was Dai Bingguo who rekindled the old debate of a vaguely worded land swap in recent weeks.
Kantha said the Chinese stridency on Tawang and Arunachal Pradesh is a move away from the 1993 agreement between the two sides, “which made the LAC (line of actual control) the basis for negotiations. This was reiterated in five subsequent agreements.The Chinese are now moving away from this“. In addition, China's “objections“ to rail link to Tawang was specious, Indian officials said. In recent years, India has regularly rejected Chinese demarches on this issue. Meanwhile, the Chinese have continued to harden their positions. They have refused to allow pilgrimages via Demchok in Ladakh citing “disputes“, on territory again occupied by India.While China participates in border trade at Nathu La, it refuses to do so at Shipki La, again citing `dispute'.
With China intensifying its pressure on India across a broad spectrum of issues from blocking India in the NSG to colluding with Pakistan on tactical nuclear weapons --India is quietly , but surely pushing back. India has effectively junked reiteration of the one-China policy for over six years now, foreign minister Sushma Swaraj sharply connecting it to China's acceptance of a “one-India“ policy. New Delhi has increased its interactions with Taiwan, making it more visible. The Dalai Lama, whose very existence is anathema to the Chinese official system, is more visible in official circles, including in a recent advertisement of the MP government, in the Rashtrapati Bhavan, in Karnataka and now in the sensitive Arunachal Pradesh.
