Sutirtho Patranobis - Letters show Nehru didn’t endorse British-era treaty with China on Sikkim border
Jawaharlal Nehru did
not fully endorse the 1890 treaty between British India and China over the
borders with Tibet and Sikkim, letters written by India’s first Prime Minister
show. In letters written to
Premier Zhou Enlai, then arguably China’s second most powerful man after
Communist party chief, Mao Zedong, in 1959, Nehru had given enough indications
of the differences that that New Delhi had with Beijing on the boundary
question in the mountainous tri-junction of China, Bhutan and India -- where
the current standoff between Chinese and Indian militaries is going on.
On Monday, ministry of
foreign affairs (MFA) spokesperson Geng Shuang cited the letter from Nehru to Enlai, written on
March 22, 1959, that India’s protectorate state Sikkim’s border with China was
confirmed by a treaty signed between China and Britain in 1890, and that the
border was demarcated in 1895. The treaty in question
was the Convention between Great Britain and China relating to Sikkim and Tibet
and signed between colonial Britain and China’s Qing dynasty in then-Calcutta
in 1890. Citing the treaty and
another letter, Geng said: “On September 26, 1959, Nehru confirmed with Zhou
that there was no dispute on the China-Sikkim border”.
That letter from Nehru
to Zhou on September 26, actually, said more than what China is telling the
world: broadly, India stood by the 1890 agreement only as far as northern
Sikkim was concerned.
“This Convention of
1890 also defined the boundary between Sikkim and Tibet; and the boundary was
later, in 1895, demarcated. There is thus no dispute regarding the boundary of
Sikkim with the Tibet region. This clearly refers to northern Sikkim and not to
the tri-junction which needed to be discussed with Bhutan and Sikkim and which
is today the contentious area. And once more, let us not forget that the 1890
Treaty was an unequal treaty as Tibet, Sikkim and Bhutan were not involved,” Nehru wrote to Zhou in the letter, which has been accessed by the Hindustan
Times.
But Nehru pointed out
in the,”letter that boundaries of Sikkim and Bhutan needed to be included in
the discussions. “It is not clear to us
what exactly is the implication of your (Premier Zhou) statement that the
boundaries of Sikkim and Bhutan do not fall within the scope of the present
discussion. In fact, Chinese maps show sizeable areas of Bhutan as part of
Tibet,” Nehru wrote. “Under treaty
relationships with Bhutan the Government of India are the only competent
authority to take up with other Governments matters concerning Bhutan’s
external relations, and in fact we have taken up with your Government a number
of matters on behalf of the Bhutan Government,” Nehru wrote.
“The rectification of
errors in Chinese maps regarding the boundary of Bhutan with Tibet is therefore
a matter which has to be discussed along with the boundary of India with the
Tibet region of China in the same sector,” Nehru added… read more:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/nehru-s-1959-letters-prove-china-s-bluff-on-india-s-acceptance-of-sikkim-border/story-3pcPZxmYlHdilnxXSWr0yH.htmlHere is a report on Modi's chest-thumping in 2014: Modi blows hot air at China in a rally in Arunachal
