Ya'll Nibbiars The Chinese have always been duplicitous. They say one thing, mean something else, and later claim to have said something totally different. Today, when a stalemate situation seems to be developing in Eastern Ladakh, they will prattle about peace and tranquility! and restoration of Status Quo....and resolution of disputes by negotiations ....and so on and so forth. The new proposal from the Chinese Side appears to be a refined “7th November 1959 Proposal” by Chou En-Lai, the then Chinese Premier.
The gist of 1959 Proposal was as follows “The Chinese Govt. proposes that the armed forces of China and India each withdraw 20 kilometres at once from the so-called McMahon Line in the East, and from the line up to which each side exercises actual control in the West”, ”and that the two sides would not send their armed personnel to be stationed in or patrol this 40 km zones, but still maintain civil administrative personnel and unarmed police there for performance of administrative duties and maintenance of order.” This above arrangement was to continue till ”the border dispute was settled amicably and peacefully and that pending a settlement, the status quo should be maintained and neither side should seek to alter the status quo by any means” All this sounds innocuous and appears somewhat practical but the catch lies in the West (East Ladakh), the Line of Actual Control which remains undefined and thus a perineal source for future mischief If we were to agree to this, I’m sure the Chinese would creep forward soon, not only in Ladakh, but at every other convenient place along the border. We now have a live border in Eastern Ladakh and everywhere else, and that appears to be the new normal.
Air Marshal Raghunath Nambiar, PVSM, AVSM, VM & Bar.