Border Peace and Tranquility Agreement, 1993

Border Peace and Tranquility Agreement, 1993
Agreement on the Maintenance of Peace and Tranquility along the Line of Actual Control in the India–China Border Areas
China–India border, showing two large disputed areas in Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh and several smaller disputes (map by CIA)
TypeStandstill agreement
Border management
Confidence building measures
ContextIndia China boundary question
Signed7 September 1993
LocationGreat Hall of the People, Beijing, China
ConditionRatification by China and India
Parties
  • China China
  • India India
Languages

The Border Peace and Tranquility Agreement (BPTA or MPTA; formally the Agreement on the Maintenance of Peace and Tranquility along the Line of Actual Control in the India–China Border Areas) is an agreement signed by China and India in September 1993, agreeing to maintain the status quo on their mutual border pending an eventual boundary settlement.[1] The Agreement on Military Confidence Building Measures, 1996, pursuant to the 1993 agreement, incrementally details the military confidence building measures to be implemented that would ensure no-war. The Protocol for the Implementation of Military Confidence Building Measures, 2005 further discussed modalities to implement the confidence building measures.

In numerous border incidents the agreements have been adhered to, successfully maintaining peace, or in other words, successfully preventing conflict.[2][3][4] The agreements are not solely responsible for this success. Political will and other interests in a peaceful border have also been responsible.[2] On the other hand, the agreements have also been seriously and completely violated on numerous occasions, most recently during the 2020 China–India skirmishes.[5]

  1. ^ Menon (2016), p. 19.
  2. ^ a b Menon 2016, p. 20-24 (ebook), Chapter 1: Pacifying the Border. Boundary Settlement..
  3. ^ Kumar, Gaurav (July–September 2020). "India-China Border Agreements". United Service Institution of India. Archived from the original on 20 June 2021. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference :4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ * "China Defies Most Rules of 1996 Pact Cited by Minister Jaishankar on Why Indian Troops Didn't Fire in Self-Defence". News18. 19 June 2020. Retrieved 22 February 2021. [...] B. R. Deepak... thinks that with the killing of 20 Indian soldiers all Confidence Building Measures (CBM) between the two countries have also died.