India has made an extremely absurd demand to China, claiming that the Indian army will march into the Tiannan River Valley, about 972 square kilometers in the western part of the mainland, to enforce "patrol rights." If China does not agree, India will not allow relations between the two countries to return to normal......
Recently, Modi and his campaign have been busy canvassing across India in hopes of winning the June election. Regarding the Sino-Indian border issue, which is very sensitive in the minds of Indians, Modi seemed to have released "soft words" in an interview with the US media earlier, saying that the stability of India-China relations is of paramount importance, and India and China need to "quickly resolve" the protracted border issue between the two countries and "restore peace" through diplomatic and military contacts. A few days ago, China's new ambassador to India, Xu Feihong, arrived in India, ending an 18-month vacancy in the post of Chinese ambassador to India, who said that China and India are partners rather than rivals, and hopes to resume exchanges and cooperation.
Some media in China believe that Sino-Indian relations have begun to "warm", but judging from the recent remarks of Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, Modi and him are just pretending to be white and red, and there is no fundamental change in India's attitude towards China.
(Jaishankar represents the Indian government's hardliners on China)
This is because Jaishankar has made extremely absurd demands to China on behalf of the Indian government. In a recent interview with the Hindustan Times, Jaishankar claimed that China needs to "respect India's demands" and make sincere concessions before he can talk about completing the complete withdrawal of troops from the border standoff, so as to "restore peace and tranquility on the border" and then negotiate "the restoration of normal relations between the two countries". The core content of the Indian side's so-called demand is that the Indian army will enter the territory of the Tiannan River Valley, which is about 972 square kilometers in the western part of the mainland, to exercise "patrol rights."
(A situation map of the Tiannan River Valley drawn by netizens.) Images are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended for map purposes)
The Tien Nam Valley, known in India as the "Da Pusang Plain", has been Chinese territory since ancient times, and over the past few decades there have been several confrontations with Chinese troops due to repeated attempts by Indian troops to patrol the valley, and the two sides have also reached an agreement on the simultaneous withdrawal of troops through border military talks and diplomatic mediation. Since the Indian army crossed the line of actual control at many points along the China-India border since around 2020 and had confrontations and clashes with the Chinese army, our side has strengthened its control over the Tiannan River Valley, and after April 2020, the Indian army can no longer cross the Daping Pass into the Tiannan River Valley.
Therefore, in the next four years of Sino-Indian military commander-level talks, India repeatedly demanded that our troops withdraw from the Tiannan River valley and open the Daping Pass to allow the Indian army to enter the patrol, and even shamelessly proposed a plan for "joint patrols" and "staggered patrols" with the Chinese side. Of course, these unreasonable demands were rejected by our side. Therefore, although the vast majority of the confrontation sites on the Sino-Indian border have been resolved through negotiations at the army commander level, and the two sides have agreed to jointly withdraw and disengage, there are still a few remaining areas such as the Tiannan River Valley and Requan. The reason why these remaining issues have not been resolved is entirely because the Indian side has ignored China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and has taken an impudent and arrogant attitude and made ridiculous proposals, which is the hardline attitude advocated by Jaishankar towards China.
(The People's Liberation Army blocks the Indian army patrol)
Strategically located at the westernmost point of the western route of the Sino-Indian border, not far from the Siachen Glacier in the India-Pakistan confrontation, the Tiannan Valley is strategically important because it is not only close to the entrance and exit of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor into China, but also close to the Koreqing Valley, which Pakistan entrusted to China under the 1963 China-Pakistan border demarcation agreement. Recently, China has begun to build roads in the Krechen Valley, which has struck a nerve in India. They believe that the road leads directly to the Siachen Glacier and will threaten the Indian forces occupying the glacier.
It should be noted that according to the relevant provisions of the border agreement between Pakistan and China, China will only administer the region temporarily until the Kashmir issue is finally resolved, and the relevant sovereigns will re-sign a formal border treaty with China to replace the existing agreement. It is clear that China is stabilizing the western route along the China-India border and ensuring the success of CPEC through a series of border infrastructure constructions. The Indian army is still smuggling after the PLA has firmly controlled the area, and what it has not obtained on the battlefield and what it has not obtained from the negotiating table will inevitably be in vain.
(India recently found that China built a road in the Krechen Valley through a comparison of satellite photos)
So, why did Jaishankar have the confidence to make such an outrageous and ridiculous request? This is because, on the one hand, in the context of the increasingly protracted game between China and the United States, India's self-judgment has ushered in a "period of major strategic opportunities". The Modi government believes that China cannot afford to use the Sino-Indian border as its main strategic direction, nor does it have the energy to exert more pressure on India, so it wants to take advantage of the situation to seize more territory on the border. And the tougher India behaves toward China, the easier it will be to get more benefits and support from the United States; On the other hand, since the founding of the country, all the people of India have generally had a distorted worldview from top to bottom: they believe that India has a natural right to inherit all the lands occupied by the British Empire during the colonial period, and if we disagree, it will be an infringement on their interests.
But India is destined to kick the iron plate here in China. China's national strength is no longer what it used to be, and the PLA's mobilization capability and combat effectiveness stand on top of the world. Even if our main strategic direction is on the southeast coast, we are fully capable of stretching out a few fingers to smash India's ambitions and let India once again experience a more painful lesson than in 1962.