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India–China Border Dispute: Boundary-Making and Shaping of Material Realities from the Mid-Nineteenth to Mid-Twentieth Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 July 2017

JOE THOMAS KARACKATTU
JOE THOMAS KARACKATTU*
Affiliation:
Indian Institute of Technology, Madrasjoethomask@gmail.com
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Abstract

This paper revisits the intersection of the 19th and 20th century to bring into focus hitherto unused archival and diplomatic correspondence from the attempts to define and delimit a boundary between India and China. The theoretical point of departure for the paper is to discern how perception (knowledge, beliefs, and norms) relating to the boundary evolved over time to alter the meaning and construction of the material reality i.e. the boundary itself. In doing so it establishes how what each country deems today, as its ‘traditional customary boundary’ was not an unambiguous fixed one, but was mutable across different time periods. The political importance of the selection of these boundary lines did not lie in their being ‘true’, or in the claim being ‘real’ but in their being shared by a process of political selection, and then being reified in the respective countries.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 28 , Issue 1 , January 2018 , pp. 135 - 159
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 2017 

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Footnotes

*

The author is grateful to the two anonymous reviewers for their detailed comments. He is also indebted to Professor Liu Jian (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences) for his comments at the ‘2015 Emerging Scholars’ symposium at the India China Institute, New School, New York, where an earlier version of this article was presented.

References

References

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File 464/13; No 4768; India Foreign Secretary's No 45 M.Google Scholar
McMahon's memorandum P4692 dated 28 October 1913.Google Scholar
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Chinese Aggression in War and Peace: Letters of the Prime Minister of India (1962), Delhi: Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India.Google Scholar
Gazetteer of Kashmir and Ladak (together with routes in the territories of the Maharaja of Jamu and Kashmir) compiled under the direction of the Quarter Master General in India in the Intelligence Branch, Calcutta: The Superintendent of Government Printing, India, 1890.Google Scholar
Government of India: Military Report on Sinkiang (Chinese Turkestan), 1929, General Staff, India, Case No 26110/M03/Books, Pol and Secret Dept, Calcutta, GOI Press, 1929.Google Scholar
Prime Minister on Sino-Indian Relations: Vol I (Part I: 1961 & Part II: 1962), New Delhi: External Publicity Division, Ministry of External Affairs, GOI.Google Scholar
The Sino-Indian Boundary Question (Enlarged Edition) (1962), Peking: Foreign Languages Press, November 1962.Google Scholar
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Gupta, Karunakar (1971), “The McMahon Line 1911–45: The British Legacy”, The China Quarterly, No. 47 (July - September 1971), pp. 521–545.Google Scholar
Huttenback, Robert A (1975), “The ‘Great Game’ in the Pamirs and the Hindu- Kush: The British Conquest of Hunza and Nagar”, Modern Asian Studies, Volume 9, Issue 01, January 1975, pp 1–29.Google Scholar
Kiernan, VG (1955), “Kashghar and the Politics of Central Asia, 1868–1878”, Cambridge Historical Journal, Vol. 11, No. 3 (1955), pp. 317–342.Google Scholar
Lamb, Alastair, The China-India Border. The Origins of the Disputed Boundaries, (Chatham House Essays.), London: Published for the Royal Institute of International Affairs by Oxford University Press, (Oxford, 1964).Google Scholar
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Myatt, Tim, “Trinkets, Temples, and Treasures: Tibetan Material Culture and the 1904 British Mission to Tibet”, October 2011, Accessed online (29 June 2015) at URL: http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/ret/pdf/ret_21_07.pdfGoogle Scholar
Noorani, A. G. (5th impression), India-China Boundary Problem 1846–1947: History and Diplomacy, (Delhi and Oxford, 2013).Google Scholar
Norbu, Dawa, “The Genesis of Tibetan “Autonomy” and “Suzerainty”, China's Tibet Policy, Durham East Asia Series, (Richmond, 2001).Google Scholar
Palace, Wendy, The British Empire and Tibet 1900–1922, (New York, 2005).Google Scholar
Kirk, W., “The Inner Asian Frontier of India”, Transactions and Papers (Institute of British Geographers)”, No. 31 (Dec., 1962), pp. 131–168, published by Wiley for The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers).Google Scholar
Rose, Archibald, “Chinese Frontiers of India”, The Geographical Journal, Vol. 39, No. 3, March, 1912. pp. 193–218.Google Scholar
Searle, John R., The Construction of Social Reality, (New York, 1995).Google Scholar
Stewart, Gordon T., Journeys to Empire: Enlightment, Imperailism, and the British Encounter with Tibet, 1774–1904, (Cambridge, 2009).Google Scholar
Teichman, Eric, Travels of a consular officer in Eastern Tibet; together with a history of the relations between China, Tibet and India, (Cambridge, 1922).Google Scholar
The Diaries of Sir Ernest Satow, British Envoy in Peking (1900-06) (2007), In Two Volumes Volume One: 1900–03 Volume Two: 1904–06; Edited and Annotated by Ruxton, Ian C., Kyushu Institute of Technology Academic Repository; April 2007; Accessed online (on 04 July 2015) at URL: https://ds.lib.kyutech.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/10228/430/2/02_Satow_Peking_Diary_Vol_Two_1904-06.pdfGoogle Scholar
Wilkinson, Glenn R., “The blessings of war: The depiction of military force in Edwardian newspapers” Journal of Contemporary History, Vol 33 (1) 1998, pp. 97–115.Google Scholar
Enclosures of a letter to Her Majesty's Secretary of State for India, No 186, dated 25 September 1895, From Simla, Foreign Department. Forwarded by Barnes, H. S. (Esq., C. S. Resident in Kashmir) to the Secretary, Government of India (Foreign Dept) titled “Chinese Boundary with Ladakh and Hunza, and the trade route between India and Chinese Turkistan”, Foreign Office Press No 777-25-9-95-26, Political and Secret department, Reg Nos 405–461.Google Scholar
Note of the Viceroy (dated 12 September 1917; labeled ‘Foreign Secret’) in India Office Records, L/P&S/11/81, Political and Secret Annual Files, 1912 – 1930, Register No 3475 (Put away with 3122/14), British Library, Fische 684.Google Scholar
“Tibet Conference (confidential): Final Memorandum” prepared by Henry McMahon; India Office Records, Political and Secret Department Records, in L/P&S/11/81; Also available as Fiche 684, 16–23 of 75 in L/P&S/11/81.Google Scholar
Letter from Government of India in the Foreign Department to the Right Honourable W. St. J. F. Brodrick, His Majesty's Secretary of State for India, dated Simla, 5 November, 1903 (received 23 November, 1903) in ‘Papers relating to Tibet’, in India Office Records, Parliamentary Branch Records (c1772-1952) in L/Parl/2/334.Google Scholar
Convention between the Governments of Great Britain and Tibet signed at Lhasa on the 7th September 1904, in India Office Records, Parliamentary Branch Records (c1772-1952) in L/Parl/2/334, p. 273.Google Scholar
File 464/13; No 4768; India Foreign Secretary's No 45 M.Google Scholar
McMahon's memorandum P4692 dated 28 October 1913.Google Scholar
Note B 201 (S. 224) Secret: ‘Tibet: The Simla Conference’ in India Office Records, Political and Secret Department Records 1756-c1950 in L/P&S/11/81, Register No 3475 (filed with 3122/14).Google Scholar
Chinese Aggression in War and Peace: Letters of the Prime Minister of India (1962), Delhi: Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India.Google Scholar
Gazetteer of Kashmir and Ladak (together with routes in the territories of the Maharaja of Jamu and Kashmir) compiled under the direction of the Quarter Master General in India in the Intelligence Branch, Calcutta: The Superintendent of Government Printing, India, 1890.Google Scholar
Government of India: Military Report on Sinkiang (Chinese Turkestan), 1929, General Staff, India, Case No 26110/M03/Books, Pol and Secret Dept, Calcutta, GOI Press, 1929.Google Scholar
Prime Minister on Sino-Indian Relations: Vol I (Part I: 1961 & Part II: 1962), New Delhi: External Publicity Division, Ministry of External Affairs, GOI.Google Scholar
The Sino-Indian Boundary Question (Enlarged Edition) (1962), Peking: Foreign Languages Press, November 1962.Google Scholar
Enclosures of a letter to Her Majesty's Secretary of State for India, No 186, dated 25 September 1895, From Simla, Foreign Department. Forwarded by Barnes, H. S. (Esq., C. S. Resident in Kashmir) to the Secretary, Government of India (Foreign Dept) titled “Chinese Boundary with Ladakh and Hunza, and the trade route between India and Chinese Turkistan”, Foreign Office Press No 777-25-9-95-26, Political and Secret department, Reg Nos 405–461.Google Scholar
Note of the Viceroy (dated 12 September 1917; labeled ‘Foreign Secret’) in India Office Records, L/P&S/11/81, Political and Secret Annual Files, 1912 – 1930, Register No 3475 (Put away with 3122/14), British Library, Fische 684.Google Scholar
“Tibet Conference (confidential): Final Memorandum” prepared by Henry McMahon; India Office Records, Political and Secret Department Records, in L/P&S/11/81; Also available as Fiche 684, 16–23 of 75 in L/P&S/11/81.Google Scholar
Letter from Government of India in the Foreign Department to the Right Honourable W. St. J. F. Brodrick, His Majesty's Secretary of State for India, dated Simla, 5 November, 1903 (received 23 November, 1903) in ‘Papers relating to Tibet’, in India Office Records, Parliamentary Branch Records (c1772-1952) in L/Parl/2/334.Google Scholar
Convention between the Governments of Great Britain and Tibet signed at Lhasa on the 7th September 1904, in India Office Records, Parliamentary Branch Records (c1772-1952) in L/Parl/2/334, p. 273.Google Scholar
File 464/13; No 4768; India Foreign Secretary's No 45 M.Google Scholar
McMahon's memorandum P4692 dated 28 October 1913.Google Scholar
Note B 201 (S. 224) Secret: ‘Tibet: The Simla Conference’ in India Office Records, Political and Secret Department Records 1756-c1950 in L/P&S/11/81, Register No 3475 (filed with 3122/14).Google Scholar
Chinese Aggression in War and Peace: Letters of the Prime Minister of India (1962), Delhi: Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India.Google Scholar
Gazetteer of Kashmir and Ladak (together with routes in the territories of the Maharaja of Jamu and Kashmir) compiled under the direction of the Quarter Master General in India in the Intelligence Branch, Calcutta: The Superintendent of Government Printing, India, 1890.Google Scholar
Government of India: Military Report on Sinkiang (Chinese Turkestan), 1929, General Staff, India, Case No 26110/M03/Books, Pol and Secret Dept, Calcutta, GOI Press, 1929.Google Scholar
Prime Minister on Sino-Indian Relations: Vol I (Part I: 1961 & Part II: 1962), New Delhi: External Publicity Division, Ministry of External Affairs, GOI.Google Scholar
The Sino-Indian Boundary Question (Enlarged Edition) (1962), Peking: Foreign Languages Press, November 1962.Google Scholar
Adler, Emanuel, “Seizing the Middle Ground: Constructivism in World Politics”, European Journal of International Relations, Vol. 3 (3), (London, 1997), pp. 319–363.Google Scholar
Gupta, Karunakar (1971), “The McMahon Line 1911–45: The British Legacy”, The China Quarterly, No. 47 (July - September 1971), pp. 521–545.Google Scholar
Huttenback, Robert A (1975), “The ‘Great Game’ in the Pamirs and the Hindu- Kush: The British Conquest of Hunza and Nagar”, Modern Asian Studies, Volume 9, Issue 01, January 1975, pp 1–29.Google Scholar
Kiernan, VG (1955), “Kashghar and the Politics of Central Asia, 1868–1878”, Cambridge Historical Journal, Vol. 11, No. 3 (1955), pp. 317–342.Google Scholar
Lamb, Alastair, The China-India Border. The Origins of the Disputed Boundaries, (Chatham House Essays.), London: Published for the Royal Institute of International Affairs by Oxford University Press, (Oxford, 1964).Google Scholar
Liu, Chuan Kuan and Wu Yu, Sheng (eds; 1994), Shijiu Shiji de Xianggang (19th Century Hong Kong) (Xianggang, 1994).Google Scholar
Masahiro, Miyoshi (2009), “Sovereignty and International Law”, paper presented at Durham University, available online at https://www.dur.ac.uk/resources/ibru/conferences/sos/masahiro_miyoshi_paper.pdf, Accessed 12 October 2014.Google Scholar
Maxwell, Neville), India's China War, (Dehra Dun, 2013) (Revised and Updated Edition).Google Scholar
Mehra, Parshotam, An ‘Agreed’ Frontier: Ladakh and India's Northernmost Borders, 1846–1947, (Delhi, 1992).Google Scholar
Myatt, Tim, “Trinkets, Temples, and Treasures: Tibetan Material Culture and the 1904 British Mission to Tibet”, October 2011, Accessed online (29 June 2015) at URL: http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/ret/pdf/ret_21_07.pdfGoogle Scholar
Noorani, A. G. (5th impression), India-China Boundary Problem 1846–1947: History and Diplomacy, (Delhi and Oxford, 2013).Google Scholar
Norbu, Dawa, “The Genesis of Tibetan “Autonomy” and “Suzerainty”, China's Tibet Policy, Durham East Asia Series, (Richmond, 2001).Google Scholar
Palace, Wendy, The British Empire and Tibet 1900–1922, (New York, 2005).Google Scholar
Kirk, W., “The Inner Asian Frontier of India”, Transactions and Papers (Institute of British Geographers)”, No. 31 (Dec., 1962), pp. 131–168, published by Wiley for The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers).Google Scholar
Rose, Archibald, “Chinese Frontiers of India”, The Geographical Journal, Vol. 39, No. 3, March, 1912. pp. 193–218.Google Scholar
Searle, John R., The Construction of Social Reality, (New York, 1995).Google Scholar
Stewart, Gordon T., Journeys to Empire: Enlightment, Imperailism, and the British Encounter with Tibet, 1774–1904, (Cambridge, 2009).Google Scholar
Teichman, Eric, Travels of a consular officer in Eastern Tibet; together with a history of the relations between China, Tibet and India, (Cambridge, 1922).Google Scholar
The Diaries of Sir Ernest Satow, British Envoy in Peking (1900-06) (2007), In Two Volumes Volume One: 1900–03 Volume Two: 1904–06; Edited and Annotated by Ruxton, Ian C., Kyushu Institute of Technology Academic Repository; April 2007; Accessed online (on 04 July 2015) at URL: https://ds.lib.kyutech.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/10228/430/2/02_Satow_Peking_Diary_Vol_Two_1904-06.pdfGoogle Scholar
Wilkinson, Glenn R., “The blessings of war: The depiction of military force in Edwardian newspapers” Journal of Contemporary History, Vol 33 (1) 1998, pp. 97–115.Google Scholar
Adler, Emanuel, “Seizing the Middle Ground: Constructivism in World Politics”, European Journal of International Relations, Vol. 3 (3), (London, 1997), pp. 319–363.Google Scholar
Gupta, Karunakar (1971), “The McMahon Line 1911–45: The British Legacy”, The China Quarterly, No. 47 (July - September 1971), pp. 521–545.Google Scholar
Huttenback, Robert A (1975), “The ‘Great Game’ in the Pamirs and the Hindu- Kush: The British Conquest of Hunza and Nagar”, Modern Asian Studies, Volume 9, Issue 01, January 1975, pp 1–29.Google Scholar
Kiernan, VG (1955), “Kashghar and the Politics of Central Asia, 1868–1878”, Cambridge Historical Journal, Vol. 11, No. 3 (1955), pp. 317–342.Google Scholar
Lamb, Alastair, The China-India Border. The Origins of the Disputed Boundaries, (Chatham House Essays.), London: Published for the Royal Institute of International Affairs by Oxford University Press, (Oxford, 1964).Google Scholar
Liu, Chuan Kuan and Wu Yu, Sheng (eds; 1994), Shijiu Shiji de Xianggang (19th Century Hong Kong) (Xianggang, 1994).Google Scholar
Masahiro, Miyoshi (2009), “Sovereignty and International Law”, paper presented at Durham University, available online at https://www.dur.ac.uk/resources/ibru/conferences/sos/masahiro_miyoshi_paper.pdf, Accessed 12 October 2014.Google Scholar
Maxwell, Neville), India's China War, (Dehra Dun, 2013) (Revised and Updated Edition).Google Scholar
Mehra, Parshotam, An ‘Agreed’ Frontier: Ladakh and India's Northernmost Borders, 1846–1947, (Delhi, 1992).Google Scholar
Myatt, Tim, “Trinkets, Temples, and Treasures: Tibetan Material Culture and the 1904 British Mission to Tibet”, October 2011, Accessed online (29 June 2015) at URL: http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/ret/pdf/ret_21_07.pdfGoogle Scholar
Noorani, A. G. (5th impression), India-China Boundary Problem 1846–1947: History and Diplomacy, (Delhi and Oxford, 2013).Google Scholar
Norbu, Dawa, “The Genesis of Tibetan “Autonomy” and “Suzerainty”, China's Tibet Policy, Durham East Asia Series, (Richmond, 2001).Google Scholar
Palace, Wendy, The British Empire and Tibet 1900–1922, (New York, 2005).Google Scholar
Kirk, W., “The Inner Asian Frontier of India”, Transactions and Papers (Institute of British Geographers)”, No. 31 (Dec., 1962), pp. 131–168, published by Wiley for The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers).Google Scholar
Rose, Archibald, “Chinese Frontiers of India”, The Geographical Journal, Vol. 39, No. 3, March, 1912. pp. 193–218.Google Scholar
Searle, John R., The Construction of Social Reality, (New York, 1995).Google Scholar
Stewart, Gordon T., Journeys to Empire: Enlightment, Imperailism, and the British Encounter with Tibet, 1774–1904, (Cambridge, 2009).Google Scholar
Teichman, Eric, Travels of a consular officer in Eastern Tibet; together with a history of the relations between China, Tibet and India, (Cambridge, 1922).Google Scholar
The Diaries of Sir Ernest Satow, British Envoy in Peking (1900-06) (2007), In Two Volumes Volume One: 1900–03 Volume Two: 1904–06; Edited and Annotated by Ruxton, Ian C., Kyushu Institute of Technology Academic Repository; April 2007; Accessed online (on 04 July 2015) at URL: https://ds.lib.kyutech.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/10228/430/2/02_Satow_Peking_Diary_Vol_Two_1904-06.pdfGoogle Scholar
Wilkinson, Glenn R., “The blessings of war: The depiction of military force in Edwardian newspapers” Journal of Contemporary History, Vol 33 (1) 1998, pp. 97–115.Google Scholar