India and China to add two more border meeting points
India and China have agreed to set up two additional Border Personnel Meeting points along the Line of Actual Control, though the locations are yet to be announced. The decision came in an eight-point outcome document issued on 26 August after the 25th round of Special Representatives talks. Five BPM points operate today.
Syllabus: GS3 · External Threats to Security; GS2 · Groupings & Agreements
Why it matters
When soldiers of two nuclear-armed neighbours stand close together along a boundary that has never been formally settled, the cheapest way to stop a misunderstanding from becoming a clash is to let their commanders talk face to face. Each new meeting point is one more place where a local problem can be resolved locally, before it travels up to capitals.
Prelims pointers
- Daulat Beg Oldie and Chushul lie in Ladakh (western sector); Nathu La is in Sikkim; Kibithu and Bum La are in Arunachal Pradesh (eastern sector).
- Kepang La is in Upper Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh, near Tuting.
- The Special Representatives mechanism handles the boundary question at the political level; BPMs operate at the level of local military commanders.
- India's Special Representative is the National Security Adviser.
Practise a UPSC-style question
Consider the following statements about Border Personnel Meeting points between India and China:
1. Daulat Beg Oldie, a Border Personnel Meeting point, lies in the eastern sector of the Line of Actual Control.
2. Nathu La, where Border Personnel Meetings are held, is a pass in Sikkim.
3. Kibithu and Bum La, both Border Personnel Meeting points, are in Arunachal Pradesh.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a) 1 and 2 only
- (b) 2 and 3 only
- (c) 1 and 3 only
- (d) 1, 2 and 3
Show the answer
Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only
1 is incorrect: Daulat Beg Oldie, like Chushul, is in Ladakh, in the western sector. 2 is correct: Nathu La is in Sikkim. 3 is correct: Kibithu and Bum La are in Arunachal Pradesh, in the eastern sector.