(TibetanReview.net, Aug10’25) – China has been in “illegal occupation” of approximately 38,000 sq km of Indian territory at the end of the Sino-India conflict of 1962, reported the PTI news agency Aug 9, citing a government response in Parliament.
In a written response to a query in the Lok Sabha (lower house), Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh has also said, “There have been several initiatives taken bilaterally with China over the years to address the outstanding boundary question.”
China, on the other hand, insists that the entire territory of Arunachal Pradesh belongs to it on the basis of its claim of sovereignty over Tibet, rejecting the 1914 Shimla treaty which drew the India-Tibet McMahon boundary line.
The Ministry of External Affairs was stated to have been asked whether the government of India had any data on the “territories that were occupied by China during the Sino-Indian War of 1962.” The government was also asked whether any diplomatic efforts or overtures had been made with China since 1962 to reclaim such territories that were lost during the war; and the extent to which the aforementioned talks had progressed.
Singh’s response was: “At the end of the 1962 conflict, China was in illegal occupation of approximately 38,000 sq kms of Indian territory.”
Singh has continued that following the visit of Chinese Foreign Minister Huang Hua to New Delhi in Jun 1981, India and China held “eight rounds” of formal border negotiations from Dec 1981 to Nov 1987, led at secretary level.
He has also said that during the official visit of the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi to China from Dec 19 to 23, 1988, the two sides announced the creation of India-China joint working group on the boundary question. The joint working groups met for a total of “15 rounds” between 1989 and 2005.
He has also informed parliament that during the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s official visit to China from Jun 22 to 27, 2003, the two sides announced the appointment of special representatives to explore from the political perspective of the overall bilateral relationship the framework of a boundary settlement.
“Based on the first five rounds of talks between the special representatives, both sides signed the ‘Agreement on Political Parameters and Guiding Principles for Settlement of India-China Boundary Question’ on Apr 11, 2005,” Singh has said.
Thereafter, 10 more rounds of the SR talks were held until 2012, at the end of which the two sides identified further elements of consensus in a ‘Common Understanding of the Discussions between the Special Representatives of India and China on the Framework of Settlement of the Boundary Question’ in Dec 2012. Subsequently, eight more rounds of the SR talks have been held, the last one being in Beijing on Dec 18, 2024, Singh has added.