Amid India’s reassertions, recalling how Pakistan ceded Shaksgam Valley to China

He added, “The entire union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are an integral and inalienable part of India. This has been clearly conveyed to Pakistani and the Chinese authorities several times. We have consistently protested with the Chinese side against attempts to alter the ground reality in Shaksgam Valley. We further reserve the right to take necessary measures to safeguard our interests.”

What was the 1963 agreement, and what objections has the Indian government raised against it over the decades?

Shaksgam Valley

Shaksgam Valley, or the Trans Karakoram Tract, 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.

Pakistan ceded it to China in 1963, but China has attempted to assert itself in this 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 to the Indians. China has since claimed Aksai Chin to be part of Hotan county of its Xinjiang province.

The 1963 China-Pakistan boundary agreement

The 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.

Former CIA official and analyst Bruce Riedel earlier wrote for The Indian Express that then US President John F Kennedy insisted on bringing India and Pakistan to the table for talks in this period. However, before they could happen, a China-Pakistan agreement was announced. Pakistan effectively gave away land that India had claimed.

Article 6 of the 1963 agreement 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”.

The matter also came up in the Parliament. 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.”

“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,” he 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.”

Riedel wrote, “Despite India’s sense of betrayal by the Pakistan deal with China, the Kashmir talks went on for a total of six sessions, alternating between Pakistan and India. The American president wrote to both leaders more than once to try to persuade them to reach a compromise. When Pakistan put on the table its demands for a territorial settlement, the process collapsed.”

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.

“Government of India has never recognised the so-called China-Pakistan “Boundary Agreement” of 1963 and has consistently maintained that it is illegal and invalid. The fact that the entire Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh are an integral and inalienable part of India has been clearly conveyed to Pakistani and Chinese authorities several times,” he added.

The CPEC angle

Shaksgam has assumed renewed significance given its proximity to the CPEC, which was launched in 2015. The China-funded infrastructure project was planned to connect the Gwadar port of Pakistan with the Chinese city of Kashgar in Xinjiang. For China, this would offer an alternative to the import of oil from the Middle East, compared to the Malacca Strait route.

Additionally, projects ranging from coal plants to highways were planned along the CPEC route, with total Chinese investments standing at over $62 million. However, progress has been patchy, with issues ranging from Baloch militants attacking the projects to Pakistan’s broader economic issues.

India has consistently objected to the CPEC, arguing that its route passes through PoK, or “territory of India that has been illegally occupied by Pakistan”. It has criticised the project for infringing upon its sovereignty and territorial integrity.