Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi on Tuesday reiterated India’s long-standing position that the 1963 agreement between Pakistan and China on the Shaksgam Valley is illegal and unacceptable to New Delhi.
Addressing the issue, Gen Dwivedi said India has never recognised the so-called agreement under which Pakistan ceded territory to China. “On the Shaksgam Valley, India considers the 1963 agreement between Pakistan and China illegal. We do not accept it,” the Army Chief said, underlining India’s consistent stance.
His remarks come amid renewed Indian objections to China’s infrastructure development activities in the Shaksgam Valley, a region New Delhi maintains is Indian territory under illegal occupation.
Earlier, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said Pakistan had illegally ceded around 5,180 square kilometres of Indian territory in the Shaksgam Valley to China in 1963. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated that India has “never recognised the so-called China–Pakistan boundary agreement” and has consistently maintained that it is illegal and invalid.
Jaiswal also reiterated that India does not recognise the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which passes through Indian territory under Pakistan’s illegal occupation. He stressed that the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are integral and inalienable parts of India, a position conveyed repeatedly to both Pakistan and China.
India’s concerns have sharpened amid reports of large-scale Chinese infrastructure activity in the Shaksgam Valley under CPEC. Beijing is reportedly constructing an all-weather road in the region, with nearly 75 km of roadway—around 10 metres wide—already completed. New Delhi has warned that such projects risk altering the ground reality in an area it considers its sovereign territory.
Responding to these developments, the MEA asserted that the region is part of Indian territory and said India reserves the right to take “necessary measures” to safeguard its interests. China, however, has rejected India’s objections, claiming its construction activities are “beyond reproach”.
The developments have also highlighted what India sees as China’s contradictory position on Kashmir—publicly describing it as a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan while simultaneously pursuing strategic infrastructure projects in areas under Pakistan’s illegal occupation.
Why the Shaksgam Valley matters
Located close to the Siachen Glacier in the eastern Karakoram range, the Shaksgam Valley—also known as the Trans Karakoram Tract—borders China’s Xinjiang region to the north and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to the south and west. Its proximity to Siachen, the world’s highest battlefield, and access to the Karakoram Pass give it immense military significance.
Control or influence over the valley directly affects India’s ability to monitor activity along both the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China and the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan.
How Pakistan ceded the territory
The Shaksgam Valley, part of the Hunza–Gilgit region, came under Chinese control following the 1963 boundary agreement with Pakistan. Although India formally objected, it did not exercise physical control over the area due to Pakistan’s occupation of surrounding regions.
After the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India in October 1947, the Shaksgam Valley legally became part of Indian territory. Chinese incursions into eastern Hunza in the 1950s worsened India–China relations, after which Pakistan, under then President Ayub Khan, moved closer to Beijing and formally ceded the territory to China in 1963, ignoring India’s objections.
Since the Doklam standoff, China has significantly increased military and infrastructure activity in the region, turning what India considers its sovereign territory into a growing strategic and security concern.
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