India & China regular talks imperative to keep guns silent

From the editor’s desk

The contemporary history of India-China relations has been one of aggression and distrust. Since the war in 1962, India and China have never been able to forge any kind of peaceful neighbourhood as it should have been. The war in 1962 caught India unawares as not many political analysts would have, back then, anticipated a fullfledged war of the proportion that it saw at that time. But times change, and though India is still behind China in military might, India is now far better equipped to take on China than it was back than in 1962. Both India and China have nuclear weapons and this is a deterrent. Though full-fledged war may not be a possibility, skirmishes take place with regularity, which can spiral out of hand and start a war if allowed to go unattended. This is precisely why attempts are being made from both sides to restore some semblance of normalcy in the region. In that spirit, the Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) are likely to hold the 19th round of military talks on August 14 in a bid to ease tensions along the contested Line of Actual Control (LAC) where the two sides have been locked in a border conflict for more than three years. While political leaders at the highest level have their work cut out, the implementation at the ground level is all the more significant. Therefore the latest round of Corps Commander level talks assumes significance. The need for such talks is so much essential that these talks will take place almost four months after the last military dialogue was held on April 23. The situation at strategic locations are tensed, and it can be gauzed from the fact that despite four rounds of disengagement from Galwan Valley, Pangong Tso, Gogra (PP17A) and Hot Springs (PP-15), the Indian and Chinese armies still have more than 60,000 troops each and advanced weaponry deployed in the Ladakh theatre. Interestingly, the Indian and Chinese armies have had several rounds of talks on the border issue, without being able to ease tensions at Depsang in Daulet Beg Oldi sector and Charding Nullah Junction (CNJ) in Demchok sector. Talks related to tensions in these areas are still on.

The 19th round of military talks are more significant in the light of the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping are attending the BRICS Summit in South Africa’s Johannesburg on August 22-24. This increases the possibility of a meeting between both leaders on the sidelines of the summit, and such meetings sans formal planning are sometimes more helpful in reducing tension than the more formal ones. Moreover, this meeting could set the tone for another opportunity for the meeting of the two leaders when the Chinese leader comes to New Delhi for the G20 summit in September. Modi and Xi had discussed the need to stabilise bilateral ties when they met briefly on the margins of last year’s G20 Summit in Indonesia. India and China have been engaged in a military standoff in eastern Ladakh since AprilMay 2020. The relations between India and China saw a six-decade low following a brutal skirmish in Galwan Valley which killed 20 Indian soldiers. Following that skirmish, there have been claims and counter-claims related to PLA casualties, with India claiming PLA had twice as many casualities as the Indian Army had, while Beijing claims that only four Chinese soldiers were killed. These claims and counterclaims do little to normalize the situation. India External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has also reiterated that peace and tranquility on the border alone will ensure normalcy in bilateral relations.

While diplomacy has been ongoing, both India and China have been focusing on strengthening border infrastructure and connectivity. India has built significant infrastructure to thwart any Chinese attempts of aggression in the Indian region. Significantly better sense may have prevailed on the Chinese side, as in a statement issued after the 18th round of talks in April, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs stated that the two sides agreed to stay in close contact and maintain dialogue through military and diplomatic channels and work out a mutually acceptable resolution of the remaining issues at the earliest.