The McMahon Line was declared as the border between India and Tibet under a tripartite accord signed in 1914. Tawang was on the Indian side of this line. China repudiated this accord. But, following Independence, India took control of Tawang in 1951. China, in turn, laid claim to large parts of Arunachal Pradesh, well beyond the borders defined in 1914. Beijing asserted that it never recognised the McMahon Line. With rhetoric over the border escalating, PM Chou Enlai stated in 1956 that while China never recognised the McMahon Line, the line was an ‘accomplished fact’. He added that China should ‘recognise this line’. In April 1960, Premier Chou offered to ‘accommodate’ the Indian point of view on the eastern sector if India agreed to address China’s concerns on the ‘western sector’ across the Ladakh-Tibet border, where China had constructed a vital strategic road linking Buddhist-dominated Tibet to the Muslim-dominated Xinjiang region.[Source]
