US’s Message for Pakistan & China |
Some days ago, Washington, in a very significant move in its wilful effort to redesign its strategic relations with India, used an important Tweet (on X) through the US Trade Representative making the announcement of a framework for an interim trade agreement between the US and India. The Tweet besides the framework enlisted the map of India significantly thus making a departure from decades of US’s neutrality on the subject.
The map of India was depicted from an Indian perspective and included all parts of Jammu and Kashmir as they existed on 15 August, 1947 as an integral part of the princely ruled state which acceded to the Indian Union on 26 October, 1947. Besides this, it also showed the state of Arunachal Pradesh in its full geographical form as part of India in the north-eastern region of the Indian nation which China has been traditionally averse to. In regard to Jammu and Kashmir, the state that existed as on 15 August, 1947 got vivisected in five parts after 1947. The five parts are as follows:
Jammu and Kashmir state which is currently a Union Territory as a part of the Indian Union and Ladakh as a UT in the northernmost territory of the country, Pak occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) having areas like Muzaffarabad, Mirpur and Poonch, Pak occupied Gilgit and Baltistan that Pakistan calls Northern Territory, Shaksgam valley in the Karakoram that Pakistan ceded to China; and Aksai Chin & Tibetan plateau area in Ladakh that is under the illegal occupation of China. The map under reference shows all these areas as the legitimate parts of the Indian Union as the facts are. In addition to this, the map depicts Arunachal Pradesh as a legitimate part of India as per the descriptions of the Indian nation-state.
Keen observers believe that ‘map-diplomacy’ marks a positive end to the decades-old US’s neutrality in the region’s volatile and active borders scenario. While it can be termed as a conscious geo-political nod to........