A day after an interview of a former Chinese diplomat seeking an exchange of land with India to solve their long-standing border dispute made waves in India, New Delhi has curtly dismissed the offer calling the proposal neither practical nor possible.
Dai Bingguo, China’s long-time negotiator on the border talks who retired in 2013, told a Chinese publication: “The disputed territory in the eastern sector of the China-India boundary, including Tawang, is inalienable from China’s Tibet in terms of cultural background and administrative jurisdiction.”
He said settlement of the India-China boundary dispute is possible if New Delhi accepts Beijing’s claim over strategically vital Tawang region in Arunachal Pradesh.
Dai’s proposal is neither practical nor possible for India to accept considering that Tawang is an integral part of Arunachal Pradesh and has sent representatives to Parliament in every election since 1950. PTI reported quoting Indian officials.
Dai said that colonial British government which drew the “McMahon Line” accepted Beijing’s claim on Tawang. China has rejected “McMahon Line” in India’s case but accepted it in settling boundary dispute with Myanmar. “Even British colonialists who drew the illegal McMahon Line respected China’s jurisdiction over Tawang and admitted that Tawang was part of China’s Tibet,” Dai told the China-India Dialogue magazine.
His interview was published by the magazine in its January edition ahead of India-China Strategic Dialogue held here last month co-chaired by Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar.
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