(TibetanReview.net, May30’26) – Despite recent Chinese provocations of India on weighty issues such as Pakistan, Jammu and Kashmir, Tibet and Dalai Lama reincarnation, and the QUAD grouping meeting in New Delhi, ties between the two Asian giants appear to be clearly moving in a positive trajectory, if the recent meeting of their Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) held in Beijing on May 27 is anything to go by. Nevertheless, former Indian Foreign Secretary and Ambassador to China Vijay Gokhale has sounded a note of caution, saying China has never, and still does not, consider India as equal, and is not bothered by New Delhi’s concerns.
The two countries held “constructive” and “forward looking” talks on the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, with both sides noting that maintaining border peace and tranquillity had enabled progress in the normalisation of overall relations, reported the PTI news agency May 28.
“The discussions were constructive and forward looking,” the report quoted India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) as saying a day after the talks.
The two sides were stated to have reviewed the situation in the India-China (Tibet) border areas and expressed satisfaction over recent developments.
“The two sides expressed satisfaction with the progress made in maintaining peace and tranquillity in the border areas, which has enabled progress towards gradual normalisation of bilateral relations,” the ministry has said.
They also agreed to work together to make “substantive preparation” for the next meeting of the Special Representatives (SR), scheduled to be held in China.
During the WMCC meeting, the two sides were state to discussed issues related to delimitation, border management, mechanism building and cross-border cooperation.
The reference to “delimitation” is significant because it suggests that the two sides have now begun discussions linked to the “early harvest” formulation agreed during talks last year, noted the m.thewire.in May 28.
At that meeting, India announced the setting up of an expert group under the WMCC “to explore early harvest in boundary delimitation in the India-China border areas”. China’s formulation at the time was slightly different, saying the two sides would “explore the advancement of delimitation negotiations in areas where conditions are ripe”, the report noted.
Jabin T Jacob, director of the Centre for Himalayan Studies at Shiv Nadar University and current visiting scholar at the National Chung Hsing University in Taiwan, has said the renewed emphasis on delimitation appeared aimed at moving past the unresolved legacy of the 2020 military standoff.
“Both sides agreed to maintain regular exchanges and contacts at the diplomatic and military levels through mechanisms including those that were agreed as part of outcomes of 24th Special Representative talks,” the ministry has added.
The Indian delegation was led by Sujit Ghosh, Joint Secretary (East Asia) in the MEA, while the Chinese delegation was headed by Hou Yanqi, Director General of the Boundary and Oceanic Affairs Department of the Chinese foreign ministry.
Meanwhile, Vijay Gokhale, former foreign secretary and Indian ambassador to China, has said China has never regarded India as an equal or ever been sensitive to New Delhi’s concerns.
“After Xi Jinping took over in 2013, they had economically, militarily and diplomatically gained so much ground over India that they didn’t need to be sensitive to India’s concerns anymore,” theprint.in May 28 quoted Gokhale as saying.
“At a much more basic level, China never considered India an equal, and it still does not consider India an equal,” he has added.
Gokhale served as India’s ambassador to China from 2016 to 2017.