Why does China call Arunachal Pradesh 'Southern Tibet'?

Both India and China had leveled allegations and counter-accusations on each other two days ago on the ongoing military tension along the LAC i.e. Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh.

To reduce military tension and restore the status quo on the border, the senior military commander level talks of the 13th phase ended with these accusations and counter-allegations between the two countries.

Now China on Wednesday objected to the visit of Vice President Venkaiah Naidu in Arunachal Pradesh, saying that India should not do any such thing which will increase the border dispute.

On this objection of China, the Ministry of External Affairs of India responded within a few hours and said that Arunachal is an integral part of India and it cannot be separated. India said that there is no logic to object to the visit of Indian leaders to Arunachal.

Earlier, China had also protested against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh's visit to Arunachal in 2019. China had also objected to Home Minister Amit Shah's visit to Arunachal in 2020.

Every time India has been rejecting China's objection. China claims 90,000 square kilometers of land in Arunachal Pradesh, while India says that China has illegally occupied 38,000 square kilometers of Aksai Chin in the west.

On China's objection to Venkaiah Naidu's visit, India's well-known strategic expert Brahma Chelani has tweeted and said, "When Chinese President Xi Jinping went to Tibet, India did not say anything. Xi Jinping even stayed for a night at the base of the People's Liberation Army, located just 15 kilometers from the Indian border. This was seen as China's war preparedness. China's objection to Venkaiah Naidu's Arunachal visit is not surprising.

Michael Schuman, who has written a book on the history of China, has tweeted about China's objection to the departure of Indian leaders in Arunachal Pradesh, saying, "China is handling relations with India very poorly. This could be a major failure of China's foreign policy.

Kanwal Sibal, who was Foreign Secretary in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, wrote, retweeting India's reply to China's objection, "The statement of the Chinese Foreign Ministry is in the language of challenge. Our answer is very generous. There may be sound reasons not to engage in controversy, so we are not using threatening language, but we can respond more strongly.

southern Tibet

China describes Arunachal Pradesh as Southern Tibet. There is a 3,500 km (2,174 mi) long border between the two countries. No clear boundary line was drawn between Tibet and India until 1912.

Neither the Mughals nor the British had control over these areas. The people of India and Tibet were also not sure about any clear boundary line.

The British rulers also did not bother about it. When the Buddhist temple was found in Tawang, the assessment of the boundary line started. In 1914, representatives of Tibet, China, and British India met in Shimla and the boundary line was determined.

China never considered Tibet as an independent country. He did not accept this even in the Shimla Agreement of 1914. In 1950, China completely took control of Tibet. China wanted Tawang to be a part of it, which is very important for Tibetan Buddhists.

China and Tibet

In 1949, Mao Zedong established the People's Republic of China. On 1 April 1950, India recognized it and established diplomatic relations. India became the first non-communist country to give such attention to China.

In 1954, India also accepted Chinese sovereignty over Tibet. Meaning India accepted that Tibet is part of China. The slogan 'Hindi-Chini, Bhai-Bhai' was also raised.

In the year 1914, under the Simla Agreement, the McMahon Line was considered an international border, but in 1954, Nehru accepted Tibet as part of China under an agreement.

From June 1954 to January 1957, China's first Prime Minister Chou En-Lai visited India four times. Nehru also went to China in October 1954.

In 1950, China started attacking Tibet and took it under its control. The Chinese attack on Tibet changed the geopolitics of the entire region.

Before the Chinese attack, Tibet was closer to India than China. After all, Tibet was no longer a sovereign country. China started encroachment in Indian areas as well in the mid-1950s. In 1957, China built a 179 km long road to the west via Aksai Chin.

The first encounter between the soldiers of the two countries took place on 25 August 1959 on the border. Chinese patrols attacked the NEFA frontier in Longju. On October 21 this year, firing took place in Kongka, Ladakh.

In this, 17 Indian soldiers were killed and China called it an action taken in self-defense. India then said that 'its soldiers were suddenly attacked.'

LAC also became LOC?

On June 2, 2017, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a panel discussion of the International Economic Forum in St Petersburg, Russia that "China and India have border disputes, but not a single bullet has been fired on the border between the two countries in the last 40 years." China had welcomed this statement of Prime Minister Modi and took it with his hands.

But India is no longer in a position to say that either. In June 2020, there was a violent conflict between the soldiers of the two countries in the Galvan Valley. 20 soldiers of India were killed and according to information from China, four of its soldiers were dead.