Explainer: The Importance Of Shaksgam Valley For India And China 

More than a year after India and China reached an agreement to end a prolonged military standoff in eastern Ladakh that led to multiple sanctions, a new border dispute appears to be emerging over the Shaksgam Valley.

The two countries are at odds about the territorial claims over the Shaksgam Valley. India on Friday said that the strategically sensitive region is part of Indian territory and strongly opposed Chinese infrastructure activities in Shaksgam Valley, which is a part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that India does not recognise the “so-called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which passes through Indian territory that is under forcible and illegal occupation of Pakistan.” 

"Shaksgam Valley is Indian territory. We have never recognised the so-called China-Pakistan 'boundary agreement' signed in 1963. We have consistently maintained that the agreement is illegal and invalid." 

What is the dispute about?

The contention over the geographically crucial regions steps from the disagreement of who originally had jurisdiction over the region. India maintains that Pakistan illegally ceded 5,180 sq km of Indian territory in the Shaksgam Valley to China in 1963.

Pakistan and China signed a boundary agreement then that transferred control of the Shaksgam, also known as Trans-Karakoram, area to China. India has never accepted the agreement, maintaining that Pakistan had no authority to cede territory that New Delhi considers part of Jammu and Kashmir.  "This has been clearly conveyed to Pakistani and Chinese authorities several times," Jaiswal added.

On Tuesday, January 13, Army Chief Upendra Dwivedi too asserted that India has never recognised the so-called China–Pakistan boundary agreement of 1963 and also does not recognise the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

CPEC is a bilateral project and part of the larger Belt and Road Initiative to improve infrastructure within Pakistan for better trade with China and to further integrate the countries of South Asia. The project was launched in 2015, when Chinese President Xi Jinping and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif signed 51 agreements and memorandums of understanding valued at $46 billion.

Jaiswal stated that India has consistently protested with the Chinese side against attempts to alter the ground reality in the Shaksgam Valley. “We further reserve the right to take necessary measures to safeguard our interests.”

Where is Shaksgam valley?

The Shaksgam Valley, also known as the Trans Karakoram Tract, is a remote, high-altitude region located north of the Karakoram range. It lies within the Hunza–Gilgit area of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and remains a disputed territory.

The valley borders China’s Xinjiang province to the north, the Northern Areas of POK to the south and west, and the Siachen Glacier, the highest  militarised area in the world, to the east. 

Shaksgam is currently administered by China as part of Xinjiang. However, India has consistently maintained that the valley formed part of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, now the Union Territory of Ladakh. 

Pakistan took control of the area during the 1947–48 war and later transferred it to China under the 1963 Sino-Pakistan agreement.

What has China said?

Amid India’s objections, China on Monday reiterated its territorial claims over the Shaksgam Valley asserting that Chinese infrastructure projects in the region are “beyond reproach.”

Jaiswal said the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are an integral and inalienable part of India. Responding to his remarks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a media briefing that “the territory you mentioned belongs to China”.

“It’s fully justified for China to conduct infrastructure construction on its own territory. China and Pakistan in the 1960s signed a boundary agreement and delimited the boundary between the two countries, which is the right of China and Pakistan as sovereign countries,” she said.

Addressing India’s criticism of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Mao reiterated Beijing’s position that the project is an economic cooperation initiative aimed at promoting local socio-economic development and improving people’s livelihoods.

"The China-Pakistan boundary agreement and CPEC do not affect China’s position on the Kashmir issue and the position remains unchanged," she said.

China’s official stance on Kashmir, repeatedly articulated by Beijing, is that “Jammu and Kashmir dispute is left over from history, and should be properly and peacefully resolved in accordance with the UN Charter, relevant UN Security Council resolutions and bilateral agreements”.

The agreement also includes a clause stating that after the settlement of the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan, the sovereign authority will reopen negotiations with the Chinese government to conclude a formal boundary treaty.