India dismisses China land swap idea on Tawang

New Delhi: India has rejected China’s land swap proposal concerning Tawang region in Arunachal Pradesh, which the latter said could help solve the border row.

“The (Indian) government’s position is well-known and has not changed,” said a top government official who did not want to be named since the matter is sensitive.

China’s former top diplomat Dai Bingguo had said the border dispute between China and India can be resolved if New Delhi accepts Beijing’s claim over the strategically vital Tawang region in Arunachal Pradesh in return for an unspecified land swap.

China calls Arunachal Pradesh “South Tibet”. Indian officials were also quoted by news agencies in Beijing as saying that Mr Bingguo’s proposal is neither practical nor possible for India to accept.

India’s position is that Tawang is an integral part of Arunachal Pradesh and has sent representatives to Parliament in every election since 1950.

Mr Bingguo, who served as China’s boundary negotiator with India from 2003 to 2013, had said, “If the Indian side takes care of China’s concerns in the eastern sector of their border, the Chinese side will respond accordingly and address India’s concerns elsewhere.”

People familiar with the matter said he was referring to some areas in Aksai Chin in eastern Jammu and Kashmir, which China “illegally” occupied.

China could be thinking of vacating some areas it illegally occupied in Aksai Chin in return for India “giving up” Tawang and even other parts of Arunachal Pradesh.

“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,” Mr Bingguo said.

He said the colonial British government which drew the McMahon Line accepted Beijing’s claim on Tawang. China has always rejected the McMahon Line in India’s case, but accepted it in settling boundary dispute with Myanmar.