New China-Pakistan boundary joint commission: What it is, why India has objected

What is the commission, and what is the history of India’s objections to the Pakistan-China boundary over the years?

The commission

According to the Pakistani newspaper Dawn, “The commission has its origins in the 2013 Agre­ement on the Boundary Mana­gement System signed during the visit of then Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to Islamabad. Article 45 of the agreement provides for establishment of the joint commission to oversee implementation of the border management arrangements.”

The report said the body will provide a coordination mechanism for a border “that is important for movement between Pakistan and China, including thr­ough the Khunjerab crossing, and for trade and connectivity linked to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).”

CPEC connects Kashgar in China with Pakistan’s Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea. It is part of China’s ambitious infrastructure investment plan, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and India has long objected to CPEC for passing through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Roots in 1963 agreement

The MEA spokesperson said on Wednesday that “Pakistan has no locus standi to enter into arrangements concerning Indian territory under its illegal and forcible occupation. ⁠We have never recognised the so-called ‘China-Pakistan Boundary Agreement’ of 1963 and have consistently maintained that it is illegal and invalid…”

Historically, the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir was formed after the signing of the Treaty of Amritsar of 1846 between the British East India Company and the Dogra ruler Maharaja Gulab Singh. It included Gilgit-Baltistan, PoK, Jammu, Ladakh, Kashmir and the Trans-Karakoram Tract.

The 1963 agreement came at a time when the China-Pakistan relationship, often described as “ironclad” by the countries today, was deepening. Despite its Cold War alliance with the United States, Pakistan sought to leverage ties with China, which had fought a war with India in 1962.

Around that time, Pakistan ceded Shaksgam Valley, or the Trans Karakoram Tract, to China. It is part of the Hunza-Gilgit region occupied by Pakistan and lies to the north of the Siachen glacier. Spread over more than 5,000 sq km, its terrain and climatic conditions make it difficult for human habitation. While it is claimed by India, Pakistan used to control it.

The matter of the Shaksgam Valley also came up earlier in January this year when India rejected China’s infrastructure-building plans in the region.

On its part, China had attempted to assert itself in the region even earlier. Although India has always considered Aksai Chin to be part of J&K, in the 1950s, the Chinese built a highway connecting Tibet with Xinjiang through the region, which was more easily accessible to the Chinese than the Indians. China has since claimed Aksai Chin as part of Hotan county of its Xinjiang province.

Criticised by Nehru in Parliament

Coming to the agreement itself, Article 6 stated that “the two Parties have agreed that after the settlement of the Kashmir dispute between Pakistan and India, the sovereign authority concerned will reopen negotiations with the Government of the People’s Republic of China, on the boundary as described in Article Two of the present Agreement, so as to sign a formal Boundary Treaty to replace the present agreement”.

Its criticism also came up in Parliament at the time. According to the Nehru Archives, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru said on March 5, 1963, “We are, naturally anxious to have a settlement with Pakistan,” but added that he felt the announcement of the China-Pakistan agreement had been “timed to prejudice the outcome of the joint talks on Kashmir and other related matters.”

The settlement in question was something that then US President John F Kennedy and British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan were interested in, asking India to hold talks with Pakistan. In that context came the surprise of the China-Pakistan agreement.

“However, as an earnest of our desire for an honourable and equitable settlement with Pakistan, we propose to continue with the talks in Calcutta. I have also stated that a settlement does not mean that we accept whatever is proposed by Pakistan, right or wrong. We cannot abandon the principles we have always valued,” Nehru said.

On China, Nehru said, “The other party to the agreement, namely China, in spite of its professions that it has never involved itself in the dispute over Kashmir or its absurd claim that the boundary negotiations have promoted friendship between the Chinese and Pakistani peoples and are in the interests of Asia and world peace, is directly interfering in Indo-Pakistan relations.

By doing this, China, is seeking to exploit differences between India and Pakistan on the Kashmir question to further its own expansionist policy. The Government of India have made their position clear in a protest against this agreement which has been lodged with the Government of the People’s Republic of China.”

Since then, subsequent movements in the region have been rejected by the MEA. In 2022, then Minister of State in the MEA, V Muraleedharan, answered a question in the Lok Sabha on the government’s stance on the issue. “China continues to be in illegal occupation of approximately 38,000 sq. kms. of Indian territory in the Union Territory of Ladakh for the last six decades. Further, under the so-called China-Pakistan ‘Boundary Agreement’ signed in 1963, Pakistan illegally ceded 5,180 sq. kms. of Indian territory in Shaksgam Valley from areas illegally occupied by Pakistan in Union Territory of Ladakh to China,” he said.