Longju or Longzu (; ) is a disputed area in the eastern sector of the China–India border, controlled by China but claimed by India. The village of Longju is located in the Tsari Chu Valley south of the town of Migyitun, considered the historical border of Tibet. The area of Longju southwards is populated by the Tagin tribe of Arunachal Pradesh.
India had set up a border post manned by Assam Rifles at Longju in 1959 when it was attacked by Chinese border troops and forced to withdraw. After discussion, the two sides agreed to leave the post unoccupied. India established a new post at Maja, three miles to the south of Longju, : "The Government of India took steps to establish a new post in the south of Longju. A platoon of the Assam Rifles under Captain Mitra established a post at Maja, three miles in the south of Longju." : "This gallant officer [Captain Mitra], however, established our post at Maja instead, about six miles South of Long-ju (and about three miles or less as the crow flies)." but continued to patrol up to Longju. After the 1962 Sino-Indian War, the Chinese reoccupied Longju and brushed off Indian protests.
Since the late 1990s and early 2000s, China has expanded further south, establishing a battalion post at erstwhile Maja.Prabin Kalita, Pentagon-cited China village a PLA camp: Arunachal official, The Economic Times, 7 November 2021. "The mountainous area where structures built by the PLA now stands used to be the last post of the Indian Army until the 1962 War. Back then, the post was called Maza Camp." In 2020, China built a 100-house civilian village close to this location in disputed territory.
Location Longju is south of the Tibetan frontier town of Migyitun (Tsari Town), along the Tsari Chu river valley. The area was historically populated by the Mara clan of the Tagin tribe of Arunachal Pradesh. The border between Tibet and tribal territory was at the Mandala Plain just outside the town of Migyitun.: "It was there on August 26, 1959, that the very first violent conflict in the Sino-Indian dispute over the McMahon line erupted, as a Chinese force of two to three hundred crossed the traditional border at mandala Plain and drove out Indian frontier troops stationed at the advance post of Longju in the lower Tsari valley."
There was a crossing on the river from its left bank to the right bank near Longju, which was needed to enter the tribal territory from the Tibetan side. When Bailey and Morshead visited the area in 1905, they found the bridge broken. The Tibetans were unable to repair it because it was built using tribal materials and techniques. Evidently, the Tibetan authority stopped at Migyitun.: "Bailey has left no doubt that Tibetan authority stopped at the frontier town of Migyitun. He wished to cross to the Indian side but was unable to do so. The cane bridge across the Tsari had been destroyed, and when he asked the Tibetans to rebuild it, they insisted that they lacked the skill for a bridge of that type": "Morshead went further down the river to see what prospect there was of exploring the No Man's Land. But four miles down he came on the ruins of a foot-bridge over to the right bank and could get no further. It was one of the Mishmi type, five long strands of cane bound at intervals with hoops. The Tibetans had tried to build another, but they lacked the skill of the Lopas."
On 28 August 1959, the Indian Prime Minister Nehru explained to the parliament that Longju was a five days march from Limeking which in turn was a 12 days march from the nearest road at Daporijo, a total of about three weeks. At the time the route passed through dense forests and consisted of indigenously built "ladder climbs" and bridges.
Administratively, for China, Longju is located in Shannan, Tibet, while for India, it is located in the Upper Subansiri district (previously called the Subansiri Frontier Division).
History
McMahon Line
During the negotiations for the McMahon Line in 1914, the British Indian negotiators were cognizant of the fact that Migyitun was Tibetan and also that the neighbouring Dakpa Sheri mountain (to the west) was regarded by them as a holy mountain. Taking these factors into account, they promised that the border would be drawn short of the high ridge line and avoid including the annual pilgrimage route in Indian territory as far as practicable.: "He [Charles Bell], therefore, planned to inform the Lonchen that the proposed boundary line left the highest mountain ranges before reaching the Tsari heights thereby placing the latter, and the short pilgrimage route, in Tibetan territory. But a part of it did perhaps come within British domain.... Bell, on his part, undertook to ensure that the frontier would be so laid as to leave Migyitun on the Tibetan side. Such monasteries and other sacred places as fell into British territory, he had already assured the Lonchen, would be protected and put to no harm."
These arrangements were confirmed in the notes exchanged between McMahon and Lonchen Shatra and the border line was drawn accordingly. The line avoided both the north–south ridge line (which would have placed Dakpa Sheri on the border) and the east–west ridge line (which would have placed Migyitun on the border) and cut across the region along a rough diagonal. A suitable buffer south of Migyitun was included within Tibet, but not so much as to include the confluence of the Mipa Chu river with Tsari Chu. McMahon believed that there was a "wide continuous tract of uninhabited country" along the south of the watershed.
As per the US Office of Geographer's "Large-Scale International Boundaries" (LSIB) database, the McMahon Line of the treaty puts Longju in Tibetan territory.Large Scale International Boundaries (LSIB), Europe and Asia, 2012, EarthWorks, Stanford University, 2012.
1930s For various diplomatic reasons, the McMahon Line remained unimplemented for a couple of decades. It was revived in the 1930s by Olaf Caroe, then Deputy Foreign Secretary of British India. The notes exchanged between McMahon and Lonchen Shatra were published in a revised volume of Aitchison's Treaties and maps were revised to show the McMahon Line as the boundary of Assam. The Surveyor General of India made adjustments to the McMahon Line boundary "based on more accurate topographical knowledge acquired after 1914". However, he left certain portions approximate as he did not have enough information. Scholar Steven Hoffmann remarks that Migyitun, Longju and Thagla Ridge (in Tawang) were among such places.
The maps drawn from 1937 onwards show the boundary tend more towards the watershed near Migyitun than the original treaty map. The Dakpa Sheri mountain and the annual pilgrimage route are still shown entirely within Tibetan territory. But, at Migyitun, the border is immediately to its south, evidently putting Longju within Indian territory. This is the correct ethnic frontier, according to scholar Toni Huber.
1950s
After India became independent in 1947, it slowly extended its administration to all the remaining areas of the North-East Frontier. The Subansiri area was renamed Subansiri Frontier Division and officers were posted to remote areas. Schools and medical centres were opened. Verrier Elwin, an authority on Indian tribal communities, stated "Wars, kidnappings, and cruel punishments... have come to an end".
In 1950, Tibet came under Chinese control but, at least initially, this made little difference to the relations between the Tibetans and Tagin tribes. In 1956, the Tibetans conducted the long pilgrimage of the Dakpa Sheri mountain called Ringkor as per their 12-year cycle. The procession went through the tribal territory (along the Tsari Chu River until its confluence with Subansiri and then upstream along Subansiri or "Chayul Chu"). It passed without any incidents from the tribals. The Tibetans paid them the usual 'tribute' to let the procession pass unmolested but also armed Indian border troops were stationed in the Tsari Chu valley south of the Mandala Plain.
Scholar Toni Huber reports that there was a 'foreign presence' in Tsari in terms of several small Chinese medical teams sent by Chinese administrators in Lhasa. The medical teams set up camp in the Mandala Plain and other locations on the Tibetan side of the border. They treated any assembled pilgrims who were sick and dispensed medicines. After the procession departed, they left. Tibetans later suspected that these innocent medical teams represented reconnaissance teams sent in advance of the later Chinese encroachments in the border area in 1959.
By the beginning of 1958, China had completed the Aksai Chin Road and obtained the capacity for large-scale troop movement into Tibet. In March 1959, an uprising erupted in Tibet, and troops moved in to quell it. The PLA was deployed along the McMahon Line, and four regiments were deployed in the Shannan region bordering Subansiri and Kameng Divisions.Shannan Prefecture marked on OpenStreetMap, retrieved 25 January 2021. Bordering it are, in addition to Bhutan, the Tawang and East Kameng districts (then part of the Kameng Frontier Division) and the Kurung Kumey and Upper Subansiri districts (then part of the Subansiri Frontier Division). In response, India set up advance posts manned by Assam Rifles along the border. The two places where the map-drawn McMahon Line differed from the prevailing ethnic frontier, the Khinzemane post along the Nyamjang Chu Valley and Longju in the Tsari Chu valley, came in for contestation. The Chinese suppression of the Tibetan uprising and India's decision to grant asylum to the Dalai Lama inflamed the public opinion on both sides.
Longju incident
On 23 June 1959, China handed a protest note to the Indian embassy in Beijing, alleging that hundreds of Indian troops had intruded into and occupied Migyitun (among other places). Migyitun was said to have been "shelled" and the Indian troops were alleged to be working in collusion with "Tibetan rebel bandits". The Indian government denied that any such actions took place. There is no record of any Tibetan armed resistance operating in the Migyitun area. Evidently, the Chinese were highlighting the discrepancy between the map-marked McMahon Line and the Indian-claimed border.
On 7 August, Chinese forces initiated hostilities at Khinzemane as well as Longju, pushing back the Indian post at the former and "actual fighting" at the latter.; Reports state that a Chinese force of two to three hundred men was used to drive out the Indian border troops from Longju.; On 25 August, they surrounded a forward picket consisting of 12 personnel (one NCO and 11 riflemen),: "[Answering a question in the Parliament]: Regarding the incident at Migyitun according to their [Chinese] report, it was the Indians who fired first; the Chinese frontier guards had opened fire only in self-defence." and fired upon it killing one and wounding another. The rest were taken prisoner although some escaped.; ; The following day, the Longju post itself was attacked with an overwhelming force. After some fighting, the entire Longju contingent withdrew to Daporijo. Chinese troops began to entrench themselves at the Indian Longju post, digging mines and building airfields, demarcating it as their territory.
When the Indian government protested about the incident, the Chinese replied that it was the Indian troops that opened fire and later "withdrew... on their own accord". They also said that Longju was in Tibetan territory according to the McMahon Line.
Aftermath