India challenges China’s assertion that it abides by 1959 LAC

Responding to Chinese Foreign Ministry’s recent assertion that Beijing abides by the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the India-China border area proposed by it in 1959, India said it had never accepted the unilaterally defined demarcation.

“India has never accepted the so-called unilaterally defined 1959 Line of Actual Control (LAC). This position has been consistent and well-known, including to the Chinese side,” said Anurag Srivastava, spokesperson, Minsitry of Extral Affairs (MEA), responding to an Indian newspaper article on China stating that it abided by the 1959 LAC.

Furthermore, under their various bilateral agreements including the 1993 Agreement on Maintenance of Peace and Tranquility along the LAC, 1996 Agreement on Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) in the military field, 2005 Protocol on Implementation of CBMs, 2005 Agreement on Political Parameters and Guiding Principles for settlement of the India-China Boundary Question, both India and China have committed to clarification and confirmation of the LAC to reach a common understanding of the alignment of the LAC, Srivastava said.

In fact, the two sides had engaged in an exercise to clarify and confirm the LAC up to 2003, but this process could not proceed further as the Chinese side did not show a willingness to pursue it.

“Therefore, the insistence now of the Chinese side that there is only one LAC is contrary to the solemn commitments made by China in these agreements,” Srivastava added.

India expects the Chinese side to sincerely and faithfully abide by all agreements and understandings in their entirety and refrain from advancing an untenable unilateral interpretation of the LAC, he said.

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