India China border tussle continues; territorial dispute settlement only way to permanent peace, says expert

The conflict between India and China persists despite both sides holding bilateral talk to resolve the border tension. India and China border issue remains unresolved as there has been no mutually acceptable solution yet. Srikanth Kondapalli, Professor Chinese studies, JNU while talking to ETV Bharat's Chandrakala Choudhury said that there is no guarantee that the five-point agreement between the two nations will work.

New Delhi: Even a week after the Indian and Chinese foreign ministries held a bilateral talk to resolve the border tension between both the countries and issued a five-point census to address the differences, the border tussle still persists.

China-India border blame game continues, despite the fact that both sides agreed to ease tensions. However, India and China border issue remain unresolved as there has been no mutually acceptable solution yet.

Srikanth Kondapalli, Professor Chinese studies, JNU says that the five-point agreement produced after the meeting between the foreign ministers at Moscow has built a pressure on both the sides to behave but that doesn’t mean that no conflict will break out. There is a possibility of a skirmish at the border. There is no guarantee that this will work.

He said that two sides have not decided about where their territories lie, in a mutually agreed manner and the trouble began from there, adding that “the only guarantee of permanent peace is a territorial dispute settlement, for which we don’t have a solution”.

“Beijing has claimed that India has crossed the LAC but they did not mention which LAC. In November 1959, China’s premier Zhou Enlai suggested a line in the western sector and considered the ‘Macmohan line’ as a formal border between India and China in the eastern sector, while in the western sector he suggested to a line which coincides with the claim areas in Aksai chin by China”, Srikanth Kondapalli told ETV Bharat.

In the backdrop of the Indian and Chinese foreign ministers reaching a five-point guiding principle, Chinese ambassador to India Sun Weidong earlier reiterated that India had transgressed the un-demarcated boundary and highlighted Indian media reports on firing having taken place twice at the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

“Recently, the relevant Indian ministries had claimed in the statements that Indian troops ‘pre-empted’ Chinese military activity on the South Bank of Pangong Tso Lake, which obviously revealed that there are illegal trespassing the LAC and status quo change in the border,” the Chinese envoy had said.

“If Sun Weidong is saying that India had crossed the LAC, China never had given its perception about LAC which India has crossed; they have not exchanged maps on this with India. Neither China nor India had given to the other side or to any neutral observers their respective positions in LAC. Both the sides are claiming to have crossed the LAC and have different perceptions on LAC”, Srikanth underlines.

The Sun Weidong’s comment after the meeting reflects that things are going to be longer, there would be a long haul on the border. There might be a temporary truce as winter is approaching and that is a constraining factor. “As we know in Daulat beg oldie, Depsang plain, Chushul, Pangong Tso the temperature is -50 degree Celcius. There is no way that both the troops can stay, so both the sides have to abandon the territories and go to a warmer place and then probably they will come back again.

It may have a small platoon of soldiers or some skeletal presence instead of division. This likely could be the situation. Both sides are waiting for the right time and have not reduced its troops”, Srikanth points out.

Although the five-point agreement creates a condition for both the countries to scale down the potential conflict situation but, it depends on the ground reality, otherwise, there is a possibility of potential conflict, he stated.

He says that some tension is likely to be seen at the commander's meeting at the local level as mention in the five-point agreements. “There will be no complete pull back. Indian troops will be present in Ladakh even if there is a pullback”, he adds.

On Tuesday, in a speech before the parliament, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh asserted that India and China have different perceptions about the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and that the border issue remains unresolved. Singh asserted that China doesn't recognize the traditional and customary alignment of the boundary.

Singh further added that China has the unauthorized occupation of approximately 38,000 square km of land in Ladakh. Besides, under the so-called Sino-Pakistan 'Boundary Agreement' of 1963, Pakistan illegally ceded 5,180 sq km of Indian Territory in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to China.

Blaming Chinese for its repeated intrusions Singh said that violent actions, including the Galway clash, were violations of agreements reached in 1993 and 1996.

“Where in one hand, India claims that it has not occupied territories, or there is no mobilization of troops or have violated the status quo, on the other contrary, Global times asserted that India needs to be ready for war etc. The blame game still continues even after the fiver point agreement. It appeared that such statements suggest to no ‘change in the heart’ on the issue of stability at LAC.

Talks are seen as a tactical move here for other bigger issue coming up.

Because of the attitude and uncertainty at the border, we could have a long haul at the border. Indian troops are not going to withdraw because the Chinese are not withdrawing as there is ‘nothing on the table’ to assure the other side that ‘bygones are bygones’ and let's move back”, Kondapalli reiterated.

“The main issue is the territorial dispute that has not been resolved for various reasons. We have had 22 special representative meetings but there has been no mention about territorial dispute resolution. Therefore, in the absence of any forward momentum on territorial dispute resolution, India is going to witness tensions on the ground”, he added.

India and China had at least three firing incidents between their troops in Eastern Ladakh in the last 20 days over the ongoing territorial dispute.