Shaksgam Valley: India bristles over China's fresh claim - dispute explained

NEW DELHI: China’s fresh assertion that the Shaksgam Valley “belongs to China” has reopened a largely forgotten but strategically explosive fault line in the long-running Kashmir dispute. Beijing’s defence of infrastructure construction in the region -- tied closely to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) -- has drawn a sharp response from New Delhi, which has once again described the area as an “integral and inalienable part of India”.The disagreement is not merely semantic. At stake are territorial sovereignty, India’s claims over Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), China’s growing footprint in the western Himalayas, and the future shape of regional connectivity linking Xinjiang, Gilgit-Baltistan and the Arabian Sea.This explainer breaks down what the Shaksgam Valley is, why it matters, the legal roots of the dispute, what India and China have said, and how CPEC and the 1963 China-Pakistan boundary agreement fit into the larger geopolitical picture.What is the Shaksgam Valley?The Shaksgam Valley -- also known as the Trans-Karakoram Tract -- is a sparsely populated, high-altitude region located north of the Siachen Glacier. It borders China’s Xinjiang province to the north, Pakistan-occupied Gilgit-Baltistan to the south and west, and the Siachen area to the east.Geographically inhospitable, the region is marked by glaciers, mountain passes and extreme weather. Politically, however, it is one of the most sensitive pieces of territory in the Kashmir puzzle.

India maintains that the Shaksgam Valley is part of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir and therefore legally belongs to India. Pakistan, which has occupied parts of Jammu and Kashmir since 1947, transferred control of the area to China in 1963 — a move New Delhi has never recognised.China currently administers the territory as part of Xinjiang and treats it as sovereign Chinese land.What is the dispute about?At its core, the dispute revolves around who has the legal authority to decide the fate of the Shaksgam Valley.India’s position is straightforward: Pakistan had no legal right to cede any part of Jammu and Kashmir to a third country because it is an occupying power in PoK. Any agreement signed by Pakistan concerning that territory is therefore “illegal and invalid”.China and Pakistan argue otherwise. They say the 1963 China-Pakistan boundary agreement was a sovereign decision between two independent states to demarcate their frontier and bring stability to a previously undefined border.Beijing has now gone a step further by asserting that infrastructure development in the region is “fully justified”, signalling that it considers the issue closed — at least from its perspective.Why does Shaksgam Valley matter strategically?Despite its harsh terrain, the Shaksgam Valley holds outsized strategic importance for four key reasons:

What has MEA said?India’s response has been unusually firm and consistent. Ministry of external affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal has categorically rejected both China’s claims and Pakistan’s role in facilitating them.“Shaksgam Valley is an Indian territory. We have never recognised the so-called China-Pakistan boundary agreement of 1963,” Jaiswal said during a weekly briefing.He added that India also does not recognise the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which passes through territory “under forcible and illegal occupation of Pakistan”.Jaiswal underlined that the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are an integral and inalienable part of India, and said New Delhi has consistently protested attempts to alter the ground reality in the Shaksgam Valley.Importantly, India has also reserved the right to take necessary measures to safeguard its interests, language that signals both diplomatic and strategic options remain open.What China said?China’s response has been equally direct.Beijing's foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning rejected India’s objections, stating: “The territory you mentioned belongs to China. It’s fully justified for China to conduct infrastructure construction on its own territory.”She said China and Pakistan had signed a boundary agreement in the 1960s and demarcated their border as an exercise of sovereign rights.

On India’s criticism of CPEC, Mao repeated Beijing’s long-standing line that the project is an economic cooperation initiative aimed at development and improving livelihoods.Crucially, she added that the boundary agreement and CPEC do not affect China’s position on the Kashmir issue, which Beijing says should be resolved peacefully in accordance with UN resolutions and bilateral agreements.What is the China-Pakistan boundary agreement of 1963?Signed on March 2, 1963, the China-Pakistan boundary agreement formally transferred 5,180 square kilometres of territory in the Shaksgam Valley from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to China.At the time, Pakistan described the move as a provisional arrangement, pending the final settlement of the Kashmir dispute. The agreement includes a clause stating that once Kashmir is resolved, the sovereign authority would renegotiate the boundary with China.India rejected the agreement outright, arguing that Pakistan had no locus standi to sign away territory that legally belonged to India.For China and Pakistan, however, the agreement served a vital purpose: it created a shared land border, laying the foundation for their enduring strategic partnership.Why does India call the 1963 agreement illegal?India’s objections rest on three pillars:

What is CPEC and how does it link to Shaksgam Valley?The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is a Beijing's flagship Belt and Road Initiative project valued at around $60 billion.

It links China’s Xinjiang region to Pakistan’s Gwadar port through roads, railways, energy projects and industrial zones.Parts of CPEC pass through Gilgit-Baltistan, which is a part of PoK.While Shaksgam Valley is not the most visible segment of CPEC, its integration into Chinese logistics networks strengthens Beijing’s western connectivity and supports Pakistan’s role as China’s gateway to the Arabian Sea.India argues that CPEC directly infringes on its sovereignty, and has repeatedly warned against third-country participation in projects passing through PoK.Why is China pushing infrastructure in this area now?Several factors appear to be driving Beijing’s assertiveness:

Where does Pakistan stand?Pakistan has backed China’s position, insisting that the 1963 agreement is valid and that CPEC is critical to its economic future.Islamabad recently announced the creation of a Special Protection Unit to safeguard Chinese nationals working on CPEC projects, underscoring how central the corridor has become to Pakistan-China ties.India, however, continues to describe Pakistan’s actions as illegal and accuses Islamabad of trading away territory that does not belong to it.What happens next?In the short term, the dispute is likely to play out diplomatically, with India continuing to lodge protests and China proceeding with its projects.In the longer term, the Shaksgam Valley could emerge as another pressure point in the already strained India-China relationship, especially if infrastructure development alters the strategic balance near Ladakh and Siachen.For New Delhi, the challenge lies in defending its territorial claims without triggering escalation, while preventing the gradual normalisation of a situation it considers unlawful.The Shaksgam Valley may be remote and uninhabited, but it sits at the crossroads of India-China rivalry, Pakistan’s territorial gambits, and China’s westward expansion.China’s renewed claim and India’s firm rejection show that the issue is far from settled. What was once a quiet footnote to the Kashmir dispute is now re-emerging as a live geopolitical fault line — one that could shape the strategic landscape of the Himalayas for years to come.