At end of 1962 conflict, China was in illegal occupation of nearly 38,000 sq km of Indian territory: Govt

At the end of the Sino-India 1962 conflict, China was in “illegal occupation” of approximately 38,000 sq km of Indian territory, the government informed Parliament on Friday.

In a written response to a query in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh also said, “There have been several initiatives taken bilaterally with China over the years to address the outstanding boundary question.”

The Ministry of External Affairs was asked whether the government of India has any data on the “territories that were occupied by China during the Sino-Indian War of 1962”.
And, also whether any diplomatic efforts or overtures have been made with China since 1962 to reclaim such territories that were lost during the war; and the extent to which the aforementioned talks have progressed.

“At the end of the 1962 conflict, China was in illegal occupation of approximately 38,000 sq. kms. of Indian territory,” Singh said.

Following the visit of Chinese Foreign Minister Huang Hua to New Delhi in June 1981, India and China held “eight rounds” of formal border negotiations from December 1981 to November 1987, led at secretary level, he added.During the official visit of the then prime minster Rajiv Gandhi to China from December 19-23, 1988, the two sides announced the creation of India-China Joint Working Group on the boundary question. The Joint Working Groups met for a total of “15 rounds” between 1989 and 2005, Singh said.He further informed Parliament that during the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s official visit to China from June 22-27, 2003, the two sides announced the appointment of Special Representatives to explore from the political perspective of the overall bilateral relationship the framework of a boundary settlement.

“Based on the first five rounds of talks between the Special Representatives, both sides signed the ‘Agreement on Political Parameters and Guiding Principles for Settlement of India-China Boundary Question’ on April 11, 2005,” Singh said.

Thereafter, 10 more rounds of the SR talks were held until 2012, at the end of which the two sides identified further elements of consensus in a ‘Common Understanding of the Discussions between the Special Representatives of India and China on the Framework of Settlement of the Boundary Question’ in December 2012. Subsequently, eight more rounds of the SR talks have been held, the last one being in Beijing on December 18, 2024, he added.