Closed in standoff: On the need to restore normalcy along the India-China border

in the coming weeks, The military commanders of India and China are expected to hold the 13th round of talks To continue efforts to find a way out of the LAC crisis. The intense exchanges between Beijing and New Delhi have served as a reminder that relations are undoubtedly at their lowest level since 1988. On 24 September, the Chinese Foreign Ministry, while answering a question about the new border management protocol, placed the blame for border crisis last year completely at India’s doorstep, India’s cause of controversy by calling it “illegal trespass”. The Ministry of External Affairs reiterated the allegation in even stronger language, on September 29, describing India’s actions the previous year as a “forward policy”, implicitly applying the 1962 war. New Delhi in turn reminded Beijing that it was its “provocative behaviour”, and the gathering of troops after the annual military exercise in April 2020, that led to the flashpoint. Envoys from the two countries have also made statements in virtual dialogue, suggesting a gap in the state of relations. Chinese envoy to India Sun Weidong called on the two countries to “put the border issue in a proper position” and said that “this is not the full story of bilateral relations”. His Indian counterpart, Vikram Misri, Said the Chinese side was “moving the goalposts”. How the two countries have managed the border areas peacefully for over three decades. This, he said, was based on “a well-understood gap” between managing border areas and resolving the border question.

It is clear that with four boundary agreements this understanding has now been broken due to China’s action last year to unilaterally redraw the LAC in Ladakh in the western sector. Military commanders’ talks this week will raise disputes in hot springs, while disputes in Demchok and Depsang remain unresolved. Since the crisis last year, both sides have established buffer zones on the north bank of Galwan Valley and Pangong Lake, and displaced in the south bank and Gogra. This temporary arrangement has helped prevent a recurrence of conflicts, but with previous agreements in disarray, a long-term understanding on how to keep the peace is still far from both sides. The recent events in Uttarakhand, and a continuing military build-up in the eastern sector, underscore the urgent need to reach one. Mr Misri suggested a way out of the impasse, saying “it cannot be that the concerns of only one side are relevant…” and acknowledging that “protecting territorial integrity and national security is on both sides.” of equal importance.” He said the two sides still have room to cooperate on issues including handling of the pandemic, concerns about terrorism in the region and the situation in Afghanistan. Doing so will definitely build trust. Finding that location, however, would first depend on restoring normalcy at the border.