Why is Tawang the bone of contention between India and China? Border conflicts.

Understanding its people, its geography, and its vital place in the history of India-China engagement over the past century

The Tawang sector in Arunachal Pradesh, where the clashes between?Indian and Chinese soldiers took place on December 9, has long been a theatre for contentious border scuffles. It was in the Tawang sector that the 1962 India-China war first began. It was also the last place where the ceasefire was implemented.

The population here consists mainly of Monpas, adherents of Tibetan Buddhism with a distinct local ethnic identity. With all the attention on the two militaries clashing, it is easy to forget the trauma that a border skirmish imposes on the local people. It is vital to note that the Tawangpas, as they call themselves, are the only Indians who have lived under foreign occupation (in 1962) after gaining Independence from colonial rule.

Sixty years ago, in December 1962, the last Chinese soldiers actually left Tawang after having occupied the area for almost two months. As the Chinese forces had advanced across the border, the Indian administration and the soldiers retreated towards Assam. The locals too tried to flee their homes fearing that the Chinese would visit the same wrath on them as they had done on their Tibetan brethren. Those who could not leave spent days in terror in the jungles as Chinese soldiers built camps in Monpa villages. Even today, every skirmish on the border rekindles the same sense of foreboding it did 60 years ago.

Chief Minister Pema Khandu is a Tawangpa himself and his statement after the December 9 clash was aimed at allaying those fears. “Yangtse is under my assembly constituency & every year I meet the Jawans & villagers of the area,” he tweeted. “It’s not 1962 anymore. If anyone tries to transgress, our brave soldiers will give a befitting reply.”

The Arunachal border has seen increased military activity since the 2020 Ladakh standoff. Like in eastern Ladakh, the border areas in the Tawang sector too have seen a strengthening of border infrastructure. The Chinese action in Tawang comes as the Se La Tunnel, meant for providing the Indian security forces an all-weather road to Tawang, is scheduled to be ready early next year.

Geography of contention

Yangtse, the scene of the latest clashes where soldiers on both sides suffered “minor injuries”, lies between two high mountain passes, Bum La and Tulung La.?It is not far from where these clashes took place that the Chinese had ambushed an Assam Rifles patrol on October 20, 1975. Eight days after those clashes, the bodies of four Indian soldiers were handed over by the Chinese. This took place at the 17,300 ft high Tulung La pass, just west of the recent encounter in Yangtse.

Tawang valley is wedged between Tibet and Bhutan and is connected with the mainland through the Se La pass that lies at a height of 13,700 ft, and marks the entry point for the administrative jurisdiction of Tawang.

As one crosses Se La into Tawang district, the weight of history can be felt over the barren snowy landscape. In 1959, the Dalai Lama fled Chinese-held Tibet and entered India through the Tawang region. In 1962 the Chinese invaded Arunachal Pradesh through the Tawang sector.

It is today the biggest bone of contention in the talks for a border settlement between India and China.

It was believed, at least in India,?that with the 2005 Agreement on the Political Parameters and Guiding Principles for the Settlement of the India-China Boundary Question, there was agreement that while demarcating the boundary, “the two sides shall safeguard due interests of their settled populations in the border?areas”.?That is, a populated area like Tawang would remain undisturbed.

But Chinese interlocutors interpreted the agreement differently and have since claimed Tawang. In 2017, Dai Bingguo, veteran Chinese diplomat and China’s Special Representative for the boundary talks with India between 2003 and 2014, clearly spelt out Beijing’s stand. He said, “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.”?

New Delhi’s response was that it is neither “possible nor practical” for India to concede Tawang in a border settlement.