China’s claims to the entire Galwan valley in Ladakh, attributed on Friday by a Chinese strategic expert to “historical rights” going back to the Qing Dynasty, is being seen as an expansion of previously known Chinese territorial claims in the area.
The claims mark a shift from the past, and suggest China now claims territory west of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and perhaps even up to the confluence of the Galwan and Shyok rivers. While most Chinese maps show almost all of the Galwan river within Chinese territory, the western edge of the river where it meets the Shyok river was not shown as Chinese territory previously in earlier maps.
On Friday, a leading Chinese strategic expert on border affairs at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), an official think-tank, made the claim to the entire valley in an interview with State media, citing “multiple accounts from the Qing Dynasty” that showed “historical rights”.
“Multiple accounts from the Qing Dynasty [1644-1911] and Western literature have recorded that the Galwan valley was China’s territory. Based on the principle of ‘historic rights,’ China has jurisdiction over the valley area,” Zhang Yongpan, a research fellow of the Institute of Chinese Borderland Studies at CASS, told the Global Times.
“In nearby Shyok river in west Galwan river, India built an airport, constructed bridges, roads and villages. For years, the country has been seeking to break into Chinese land,” he was quoted as saying.
This followed a statement on Tuesday made by the People’s Liberation Army’s Western Theatre Command spokesman Colonel Zhang Shuili, that “China always owns sovereignty over the Galwan valley region”. That was said a day after Monday’s clash in the area that claimed the lives of at least 20 Indian soldiers in the worst violence on the border since 1967.
‘Exaggerated and untenable’
Reacting to the PLA statement, India’s Ministry of External Affairs described the claims as “exaggerated and untenable”.
The LAC runs east of the Galwan-Shyok confluence, and Monday’s clash was thought to have taken place in the area between the confluence and the LAC, on India’s side of the line. While the LAC has never been demarcated and there are differing perceptions in at least a dozen spots along the LAC, this was not among them, according to officials, and had not seen incidents in the past.
The immediate trigger for the tensions that erupted last month in the Galwan area is thought to be a road extending east from the Darbuk-Shyok-Daulet Beg Oldie (DSDBO) Road towards the LAC. The DSDBO road heading north was opened last year, providing key all-weather access to post at Daulet Beg Oldie, one of the northernmost points in Ladakh. China’s moves appear aimed at preventing the feeder road running east from reaching the LAC, and also strengthening its position immediately east of the confluence to allow it access to areas that would allow it to neutralise the strategically important DSDBO road.
“Chinese maps that I have seen show almost all of the Galwan river as lying within the territory China claims in the area,” M. Taylor Fravel, an expert on the Chinese military at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told The Hindu in an interview on May 27. “The one discrepancy would be the western tip of the Galwan river as it meets the Shyok river. Here, the last few kilometres of the Galwan river are often depicted as lying beyond China’s border. How one defines the parameters of the valley itself might be different than the river, however.”
While there is some ambiguity on where the extremities of the valley may be defined, recent statements suggest this includes the entire river, up to the confluence. Last month, Chinese State media described the road extension east of Shyok as an “illegal” construction into Chinese territory, in what was the first reference to claims west of the LAC.
The report on Friday said the recent clash “has brought the past flashpoint Galwan valley into the spotlight.” “Chinese experts stressed China owns sovereignty over the area, and warned them not to be blind to history and mislead the public,” it said. “Whether judging from China’s historic rights to the land and the Line of Actual Control, established to create a demarcation line and to ease tensions between the nations after the 1962 war, there is no dispute over the valley’s sovereignty.”
Mr. Zhang said the valley, which was also a flashpoint in 1962, was of “strategic importance for both India and China.” “Maybe India thinks it could provide abundant water resources and is an important channel connecting China and South Asia,” he said. “India’s actions in the region also suggest that it intends to strengthen its control over Ladakh and Kashmir. India’s actions proved that it wants to enhance strength against Pakistan and China, and gain favourable geographical advantages.