The importance of Pakistan's return of the Karakoram Corridor
Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, China has successively recovered a number of valuable territories lost during the Qing Dynasty through diplomatic channels, among which the largest and relatively little-known territory is the "Karakoram Corridor" on the border between China, Pakistan and India, with a total area of 5,800 square kilometers, like a long ribbon.
In 1965, China and Pakistan signed a border protocol, and since then the border stretching for hundreds of kilometers has been clearly demarcated. Under the agreement, Pakistan returned 5,800 square kilometers of land in the Karakoram region to China, which officially recognized Kanjuti in the northwest of the region as belonging to Pakistan.
One might ask why Pakistan would be so generous in returning such fertile territory to our country? Is this a deliberate cedion by the mainland to Pakistan of the richer Kanjuti region, as some have claimed, in exchange for a more barren Karakoram Corridor?
What are the hidden secrets behind this? What is the value of the return of the Karakoram Corridor to China?
The Karakoram Mountains, located at the junction of China, Pakistan and India, are a complex area where China, Pakistan and India are intertwined. During the Tang Dynasty, China's prestige spread far and wide, and the Great and Small Bolu Kingdoms sent envoys to Chang'an many times to pay tribute, which became a nail in the coffin of China near Tubo and hindered the expansion of Tubo to the northwest.
However, Tubo took advantage of the opportunity of the Tang Dynasty to look westward, swallowed the big and small Bolu in one go, and used this as a springboard to infiltrate the Western Regions, causing more than 20 countries in the northwest to submit to Tubo.
Therefore, whoever controls Bolu holds the key to Central and South Asia, and the two sides have fought many fierce battles here.
In the sixth year of Tianbao, Gao Xianzhi, a famous general of the Tang Dynasty, led the elite soldiers of the Western Regions, crossed the Pamir Plateau, raided the capital of Xiaobolu, defeated the enemy in one fell swoop, and made the Tibetan forces withdraw from this place.
Subsequently, the seventy-two countries of Central Asia surrendered to the Tang Dynasty one after another. Nearly a thousand years later, the Qianlong Emperor eliminated Dzungaria and incorporated Xinjiang into China's territory, and the Qing Dynasty's military force caused small Central Asian states such as Kazakhstan, Kokand, and Kanjuti to request to become tributary states.
Among them, Kanjuti paid tribute to the Qing Dynasty once every three years, and the Qing Dynasty gave back silk money and grain. So, is Kanjuti considered the territory of the Qing Dynasty? Strictly speaking, Khamjuti, like Korea and Vietnam, had a certain degree of autonomy, although nominally recognized the suzerainty of the Qing Emperor's Son of Heaven and paid regular tribute to Beijing.
In domestic and foreign affairs, Qianlong showed great independence, had little contact with the interior, and his main economic and trade activities were the slave trade from India to the Qing dynasty through tributary and Kanjuti merchants.
Why didn't the Qing Dynasty treat this important choke point as a formal county administration? There are two reasons: first, for a long time after the conquest of Dzungaria, the Qing court did not feel an obvious threat in Central Asia, and Britain and ** had not yet completed the conquest of India and Kazakhstan, so the Qing Dynasty did not have much of a threat in this direction.
Secondly, the terrain of Kanjuti is dangerous, and the property is poor, and even the wealthy North Korea has not been transformed into a county, let alone the expensive Kanjuti.
Originally, the Qing court maintained a vague tributary relationship with Kanjuti, and did not have a territorial concept in the modern sense, and regarded the Qing emperor as the supreme suzerain. However, the sound of British artillery fire broke the situation, prompting the Qing court to think deeply about what to do with the land.
In the second half of the 19th century, Britain and the United Kingdom were engaged in a fierce competition in Central Asia, and Kanjuti and its vicinity attracted special attention from Britain and Russia because of its superior geographical location.
If Kanjuti is captured, then it can enter Kashmir and expand its influence to the subcontinent. The British, on the other hand, could penetrate deep into Xinjiang and gain more firm control over the Qing Dynasty's western frontier.
In order to achieve their goals, the two countries have sent expeditions to spy on intelligence on many occasions. Even without the knowledge of the Qing Dynasty, the land was divided privately. At this time, the Qing Dynasty's national strength was weakened and could not interfere, so it could only do some verbal ** in diplomacy.
In 1891, the British could not wait to send troops to occupy Kanjuti, and the leaders of Kanjuti fled to Xinjiang. Thanks to the efforts of Qing diplomats, the British relented slightly and reached a strange agreement that Kanjuti would become a "two-state state", on the one hand, still paying tribute to the Qing Dynasty, but on the other hand, it would be effectively controlled by the British and treated as a princely state.
Foreign countries paid tribute to the Qing Dynasty) Before the fall of the Qing Dynasty, two suzerains appeared on a piece of land, which made the Chinese *** at that time very confused. This strange state of affairs continued until the ** period, when China tried unsuccessfully to reach an agreement with the British colonial authorities on this border issue.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, with the improvement of Sino-Pakistani relations, this problem left over from history has been resolved. Pakistan took the initiative to extend an olive branch and return 5,800 square kilometers of land to China.
In 1947, the British withdrew from South Asia, and India and Pakistan fought over the ownership of Kashmir, dividing the north and the south. As a Kandjuti region on the border with India, it is controlled by Pakistan.
At that time, China was experiencing a civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, so it was naturally impossible for the Pakistani side to negotiate the border issue with China at that time. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Pakistan was not what we now call "Pakistan Railway", but a member of the Western camp.
Relations between China and Pakistan are not close, and the United States is trying to use Pakistan as a bridgehead against communism in South Asia. As a result, China-Pakistan border talks have been put on hold several times.
In 1960, China-Pakistan relations ushered in a turning point. China has successfully resolved the border issue of more than 2,000 kilometers with Myanmar, properly handled the problems left over from the British colonial period on the principle of equality and mutual understanding, and demonstrated China's style of not relying on the strong to bully the weak and negotiating on an equal footing.
This has raised Pakistan's expectations for the possibility of a fair settlement on the China-Pakistan border. On the other hand, the intensification of Sino-Indian contradictions has become a key factor in promoting the China-Pakistan border issue.
Intoxicated by its status as a world power and the hegemon of South Asia, India has become increasingly tough on China's borders, trying to force Beijing to accept all its territorial claims through de facto occupation, and constantly crossing the border to set up additional posts.
Nehru's smell of gunpowder gave Pakistan an opportunity to establish friendly relations with China. Pakistan hopes to improve China-Pakistan relations by resolving the border dispute as soon as possible.
Pakistan's former Ayub extended an olive branch to China, hoping that the two countries could determine the ownership of the border as soon as possible. China had feared that negotiations with Pakistan would provoke India's displeasure, but now India has refused to negotiate, so China can only negotiate with Pakistan on the border issue first.
After more than three years of negotiations, the two sides spent a lot of manpower and material resources to determine the complex landscape of mountains and rivers, and finally outlined the clear boundary line that can be seen on the map.
In the process, Pakistan gained most of the Kandjuti region, although some regretted that this place had paid tribute to the Qing Dynasty and should it remain in China.
* After much deliberation, it is proposed to recognize Kandjuti as belonging to Pakistan in the border negotiations. Although China did not get Kanjuti, it did get the Karakoram region, which covers an area of more than 5,000 square kilometers, which is the largest piece of land returned to China after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and it is also the biggest surprise in this negotiation.
India opposes this as a violation of Kashmir. But in reality, the Karakoram Corridor is a plateau link connecting Tibet and Xinjiang, and although the terrain is difficult, it has important strategic value.
The Kakun Corridor, located on the western border of our country, has important national defense and security value. Named after a narrow valley carved out by the Kerrychin River in the Karakoram Mountains, it is a crossroads connecting Pakistan-administered Kashmir, Indian-administered Kashmir and southern Xinjiang, acting as a revolving door.
Head west over the Muztagh Pass and along the Shigar River to Skardu, the well-stocked and densely populated capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
To Skadu, west from the corridor) If you follow the corridor from the southeast, you can cross the Karakoram Pass and reach the Depsang Plain, which is at the forefront of the Sino-Indian confrontation.
It is a key fortification point of the Indian army, with military facilities such as airport runways. In the past two years, China and India have amassed heavy troops here, and the situation is tense.
If you go north through the Agledaban and enter the tributaries of the Yarkand River, you can reach southern Xinjiang. During the Qing Dynasty, the merchants of Kanjuti entered the Qing Dynasty through this route, and thus obtained great wealth.
From the corridor to the north, you can enter the mysterious Yarkand River. It is worth mentioning that the Karakoram Highway traverses this corridor, which is an important part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, and a large number of goods are transported on this road every year.
With the continuous growth of China's economic strength, the infrastructure of the Karakoram artery will be further improved, making the exchange of goods more convenient. If an unexpected circumstance were to cut off the Malacca sea route, the road would become extremely important, even more so than the Burma Highway in World War II.
Therefore, if the Karakoram Corridor falls into the hands of India, it will be a disaster for both China and Pakistan. If war breaks out again between India and Pakistan, India will be able to easily separate China and Pakistan and create chaos between China and Pakistan.
Securing control of this corridor is critical in Chinese hands. The significance of China's control of the corridor is obvious, so why should it be handed over to China from Pakistan's point of view?
It's easy to see why. As soon as you open the map, you will see that if the corridor is handed over to China, then India will face increased military pressure in the direction of Kashmir, while Pakistan's defense line can be appropriately contracted, which will benefit its overall defense posture.
This is like the story of Sun Quan borrowing Liu Bei Jingzhou in ancient China. Liu Bei's occupation of Jingzhou allowed Sun Quan to shrink his forces to guard against Cao Cao in Jiangdong, while allowing Liu Bei to share Cao Cao's military pressure.
In other words, it is beneficial for Pakistan to form a quasi-military front against India by making appropriate concessions on land in exchange for Sino-Pakistani friendship. As a result, shortly after the border between the two countries was determined, a war proved the correctness of this decision.
During the Second Indo-Pakistani War, Pakistan faced serious dangers, and Lahore, the second-largest city, was in dire straits. At this critical juncture, China took urgent action to solemnly warn India of an armistice, and continuously transported all kinds of advanced and material resources to Pakistan.
With the lessons of the last Sino-Indian conflict, India can only give up its advantages and regretfully retreat.
China issued an urgent warning about the second Indo-Pakistani war).