CHINESE DESIGNS ON LADAKH: SHOULD INDIA RECONSIDER ONE CHINA?

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Video edits: Dr Sumil Tiwari.

On October 02, “GOI identified twenty-eight (28) places/features, located in the UT of Ladakh, by standard place and feature names on the official map of Survey of India (SoI).” This formal identification is aimed at facilitating their accurate recognition and better awareness among the public at large.”

The Chinese who are generally prompt to react, took some time to respond. On 13 October, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, said; “China has never recognized the so-called “Union Territory of Ladakh” unilaterally and illegally established by India and firmly opposes India’s announcement of so-called standard names. Mao further said; “The move is illegal and invalid and cannot change the fact that the relevant areas in the western sector of the China-India boundary have always belonged to China.”

The MEA was immediate with response : “the Union territory of Ladakh is an integral and inalienable part of India and no amount of denial by the Chinese side can change this established fact.”

China has been furiously renaming places in Arunachal Pradesh but is uneasy when the compliments are returned in Ladakh. With India refusing to back off against Chinese attempts at cartographic alteration, the LAC will remain “hot” in the foreseeable future.

In Samvad- Claude Arpi, Distinguished Fellow, Centre of Excellence for Himalayan Studies, Shiv Nadar Institute of Eminence to analyze the disquiet behind the silence at the LAC.


1. Clearly China is laying claim to the entire UT of Ladakh. Is this a new assertion? Or it is just that China has come out openly for the first time?

2. The Tibetan parliament-in-exile has criticized China’s refusal to accept Ladakh as Union Territory of India, calling Chinese claims as baseless. The Tibetans have urged India to reconsider its One China policy as a lasting resolution to the border dispute would be difficult without addressing the Tibet issue. There are many in India who support this approach of reconsidering the One China policy given Chinese position on Arunachal and Ladakh. Given the economic, technological and military asymmetry, is this possible? Or are there ways where it can be worked in India’s favour with minimal costs?

3. Did India miisread the importance of Aksai Chin?

4. China has been becoming acerbic on the border issue post the constitutional changes related to Article 370 in 2019. There was a serious effort to change position on the ground in 2020. Despite 25 rounds of Special Representative Talks since 2003-04 not much movement has been made in the contentious sectors of west and north-east. Why is the impasse intractable or is it that China wants the issue to keep hanging fire?

5. Chinese experts feel that India should freeze and deprioritize the border issue, placing it behind political, economic, commercial, and cultural engagement. The border issue is a generic term to include issues pertaining to the Dalai Lama, his succession and anything which China feels uncomfortable about. Such thinking is invariably accompanied by subtle allusions that should India not yield, China would seriously consider utilizing military means to settle the border issue once and for all. There seems to be an approach where India has to compromise on its core strategic issues at the threat of violence. Do the Chinese seriously believe that this approach will work?

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