India needs to address concerns of next-door neighbours to tackle China: Expert

Former ambassador Jitendra Tripathi says that India needs to take care of the concerns of next-door neighbours and that it should keep on the preparedness at the border to meet any eventuality, writes Chandrakala Choudhary of ETV Bharat.

New Delhi: China once again proved its assertiveness by laying claim to the Galwan valley by unfurling its national flag on January 1. After videos showing a Chinese flag being unfurled in Galwan valley went viral on social media platforms, Opposition parties slammed the BJP-led government, asking it to break its silence and be answerable to Chinese incursions in Galwan.

While bilateral trade ties between both countries are booming, there seems to be no end to the ongoing border tension between India and China.

Now the question is, will India-China diplomatic relations take a different turn this year? Or is it going to be a challenging year ahead, especially for India when it comes to tackling China’s growing belligerence in the region?

Foreign policy expert and former ambassador Jitendra Tripathi said, “I see no significant changes in India-China relations in the year 2022 unless China is pressurized more by the US and European Nations on other fronts because this year is going to be the centenary year of Chinese Communist Party".

On being asked about the way forward to tackle Chinese aggressiveness, Tripathi underlined that India should keep on the preparedness at the border to meet any eventuality and at the same time, diplomatically isolate China and try to strengthen relationships with the US, Taiwan and other EU nations.

"India needs to take care of the concerns of next-door neighbours. Sometimes their concerns are valid because they think that India has been treating them as its 'backyard' and not paying much attention," added Tripathi.

He said, "this year, Chinese Prez Xi Jinping will try every possible way to project a picture that he is the most powerful and that he is taking China in the right direction".

The diplomat said that Jinping will try to project a strong image of China even as it has border disputes with almost all its neighbours, including Russia. "So, that cannot be altered to our advantage until and unless China is pressurized from all directions to make concessions to leave the region. China knows only two types of language – the language of economy and coercion," he pointed out.

Further commenting on China's provocative action of unfurling the flag at the Galwan, the former diplomat said, "Wherever China unfurled the flag, it was in a disputed area. India claims the border to be its own because traditionally it has been ours and China call it their own as they think it's under their control."

"Within LAC, the Chinese are building places, unfurling the flag. Chinese had occupied these areas quite some time back and carried out all sorts of activities. However, India has been protesting against it but the fact is that India cannot forcibly take back these places from China now. India has been quite late in fortifying its border. China has already overtaken us in fortifying the border across the LAC," he explained.

"Until and unless, India is equal to China in military force, we should not think that there would be a respite from a Chinese threat," Tripathi added.

The provocation at the border on Jan 1 came days after China renamed 15 places in Arunachal Pradesh. However, reacting sharply to it, the Government said the state of Arunachal Pradesh has always been and will remain an integral part of India.

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, "We have seen such reports. This is not the first time China has attempted such a renaming of places in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. China had also sought to assign such names in April 2017. Arunachal Pradesh has always been, and will always be an integral part of India. Assigning invented names to places in Arunachal Pradesh does not alter this fact."

India-China has not had the best relations since the Galwan valley clash in 2020. The clash on June 15, 2020, was one of the worst in 45 years in which 20 Indian soldiers were martyred.

Several rounds of diplomatic and military talks have been unsuccessful to bring an end to the border disputes.

Meanwhile, media reports suggest that China has started construction of a bridge across the Pangong Lake, which in turn will enhance road connectivity for Chinese troops in the area.