(TibetanReview.net, May16’24) — As China finally appointed an ambassador to New Delhi after keeping the post vacant for 18 months, the two sides have reiterated their complaints against and criticisms of each other on the four-year-old border standoff in eastern Ladakh, belying hopes, if any, for a new determination to resolve the issue at an early date.
India’s External Affairs Minister, Mr S Jaishankar, reiterated New Delhi’s desire for a resolution of remaining issues with China in a recent interview, highlighting that normal bilateral ties depended on peace and tranquillity at the border.
But while expressing a seemingly positive stance, Jaishankar indicated that the remaining (border) issues mainly revolve around “patrolling rights and patrolling abilities,” decried China’s official globaltimes.cn May 13.
This is because China has repeatedly opposed this stance of India, arguing that the border issue need not be a hindrance to normalizing bilateral ties in other areas.
The report said Chinese scholars and military experts, reflecting the official line, strongly objected to these remarks, “cautioning that they effectively annex the current disputed areas into Indian territory, constituting a severe infringement of Chinese sovereignty.”
The report complained that Jaishankar had made the remarks during an exclusive interview with the PTI news agency, emphasizing that resolving border issues is a foundation on which the relationship between the two countries can come back to normal.
What the report took as “seemingly positive” was the fact that Jaishankar had commented on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks to the Newsweek magazine last month that the border situation needed to be addressed urgently and that stable and peaceful ties between India and China were important for not just the two countries but for the entire region and the world.
Hu Zhiyong, a research fellow with the Institute of International Relations at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, has called on China to remain highly vigilant on Jaishankar’s remarks. His “patrol rights” remarks actually incorporate the current disputed areas between China and India into Indian territory, severely infringing upon Chinese sovereignty, the report cited Hu as saying.
Hu is of the view that while Modi downplays the Chinese-Indian border issue, Jaishankar adopts a tougher stance, indicating that the softening of Modi’s attitude may be only for the sake of domestic elections, a stratagem to woo a group of swing voters. He has accused Jaishankar of deliberately provoking China.
Zhang Junshe, a Chinese military expert, has accused Jaishankar of blaming China for the current border standoff. “It’s quite obvious that the current border issues are entirely caused by India’s continuous provocations in recent years. As long as India stops provoking, the problem can calm down.”
He wanted both parties to “place the border issue in an appropriate position within their bilateral relations.”
If India attempts to use the border issue as leverage against China, it won’t work because China is equally determined to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity, Zhang has maintained.
The report noted that Chinese ambassador-designate to India, Xu Feihong, had said during an interview on May 10 that the Chinese side believed that China-India ties should not be defined by any single issue or area, and the boundary question is not the entirety of the relationship.
The report also noted Xu’s remark that China was ready to work with India to accommodate each other’s concerns, find a mutually acceptable solution to specific issues through dialogue at an early date, and turn the page as soon as possible.
But given China’s hardline expansionist position, calling for “a mutually acceptable solution to specific issues” appears to be a devoid of any meaning.
Meanwhile, Jaishankar has reiterated India’s position on May 14, saying the deployment of forces at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China (ie, occupied Tibet) was “abnormal” and the security of the country should not be disregarded.
Speaking at an event organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce in Kolkata, Jaishankar has said India responded to the Galwan Valley clash by counter-deployment of forces there.
“In 2020, the Chinese, in violation of multiple agreements, brought a large number of forces to our border and they did it at the time when we were under Covid lockdown,” news18.com May 14 quoted Jaishankar as saying.