China has virtually rejected Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s proposal to clarify positions on the line of Actual Control (lAC) and said it prefers an agreement with India on a Code of Conduct to maintain peace along the border.
China also defended its projects in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) and justified its objections in the South China Sea (SCS). China is opposed to India’s oil exploration in the SCS because it is a disputed area, but regards its ambitious $46 billion economic corridor through POK a “livelihood project” with issues left over from history.
Modi first took up the issue of clarification of the lAC during President Xi Jinping’s visit to India last year. He highlighted the need for it when Indian and Chinese troops had a face off at Chumar sector overshadowing Xi’s trip.
The Prime Minister again highlighted it during his recent visit to China last month.
He said a “shadow of uncertainty always hangs over the sensitive areas of the border region” despite remarkable efforts by both the countries to maintain peace and tranquillity along the border.
“It is because neither side knows where the lAC is in these areas. That is why I have proposed resuming the process of clarifying it. We can do this without prejudice to our position on the boundary question,” Modi had said addressing students of Tshinghua University here on May 15.
Outlining China’s first public reaction to the Prime Minister ‘s proposal, Deputy Director-General of Asian Affairs at the Foreign Ministry Huang Xilian said previous attempts to clarify mutual positions on the lAC had “encountered difficulties”.
“Whatever we do in the border area it should be constructive. That means it should be a building block for the process of negotiations not a stumbling block,” he said, replying to a question.
“If we find that clarification of the lAC is a building block then we should go ahead. But if we find that it is a stumbling block it could complicate the situation further. We have to be careful,” Huang told the media here.
“Our position is that we have to seek some kind of comprehensive measures, not only one to control and manage the border to ensure peace and tranquillity. We can try and reach an agreement on the Code of Conduct,” Huang said.
He said both countries still have some time to explore together. “There is no need to do only one thing. We have to do many things. We have to seek comprehensive approach to this,” he said.
Pressed further on why China has reservations on the lAC clarification, which Modi stated will help both sides to know their positions, Huang said it was tried few years ago but ran into difficulties.
“We tried to clarify some years ago but it encountered some difficulties, which led to an even more complex situation. That is why whatever we do we should make it more conducive to peace and tranquillity for making things easier and not to make them complicated,” he said.
China says the border dispute is confined only to 2,000 kms mostly in Arunachal Pradesh, but India asserts that the dispute covered the western side of the border spanning to about 4,000 kms, especially the Aksai Chin area annexed by China in the 1962 war.
The two sides have held 18 rounds of Special Representative talks to resolve the issue. Touching upon the SCS imbroglio, Xilian said: “Both India and China advocate freedom of navigation in the SCS and there are no differences over it.”
India will react if a Chinese company goes to a disputed area with a South Asian neighbour, Huang said, adding that likewise China objects to India’s ONGC participation in oil exploration in the wells in SCS claimed by Vietnam, he told the Indian media delegation.
ONGC has been awarded oil exploration contracts by Vietnam and China in the past voiced objections to the Indian State-owned firm’s participation in Vietnam’s oil exploration projects if they fall into disputed areas.
India defended the projects saying that they are purely commercial projects and need not be politicised. China claims sovereignty over almost all of SCS which is objected by Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
Asked why the same principle cannot be applied to Chinese investments in PoK specially the Corridor which is also a commercial project, Huang said the issues relating to the region are a left over from history.
“We know the concern of the Indian side and those projects are not political projects. They are all for livelihood of people. There is no commercial action by China in that part of the region,” he said.
“There is this kind of action for many years. We do not side with the any party on the issue of the territory. We have been advocating that the disputes should be solved through concerned parties through peaceful means. The kind of commercial activities do not affect the position of China on the claimants of the territory,” he said.
“I am not talking which one is good and which one is bad. I tried to explain our position on this. We know your concern. We tried to communicate to your side our position,” he said.
India this week said it has conveyed its objections to China over CPEC as it goes through the POK.
“We lodged protest calling the Chinese Ambassador. We lodged a protest through our Ambassador there (Beijing). And when the Prime Minister had gone there (to China), he talked about it very firmly. He raised it very strongly that it is not acceptable to us what you are talking about China-Pakistan economic corridor going to POK,” External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had said in New Delhi.