ISLAMABAD – With tensions further escalating between India and China afterboth countries Monday accused each other of violating a “consensus” reachedbetween the two sides after recent border clashes, political and militaryexperts in India said the situation now is likely to get more complicatedand tense.
“I think it [standoff] has become more complicated. There were alreadytensions on the LAC [the Line of Actual Control], and at least after theinitial violence, things had sort of cooled down and talks were takingplace at various levels,” Lt. Gen. Deependra Singh Hooda, a retired seniorof the Indian Army, told Anadolu Agency. “Now suddenly, you have anotherfresh attempt, some kind of incursion (by China’s People’s Liberation Army)in a completely new area. So, things are going to get tense.”
New Delhi Monday said its troops thwarted “provocative military movements”in border areas of the Himalayan region where the two countries havewitnessed a heightened faceoff since this May. Subsequently, China’sPeople’s Liberation Army also accused the Indian side of committingviolations.
According to Hooda, with “escalation and enormous provocation” things willget further tense on the border. “If diplomatic talks andmilitary-to-military engagement doesn’t work, and China continues to useits military forces as they have done now, I think everything is on thetable now,” he said.
India and China confront each other along the LAC, a de facto border linebetween the two nations in the Ladakh region of the disputed Jammu andKashmir region, where 20 Indian soldiers were killed this June. Since thena series of meetings has been conducted between the two countries, butwithout success.
Rajiv Ranjan, who teaches international relations at Shanghai University,told Anadolu Agency that the clashes in June in Ladakh have dented theIndia-China relationship. “With fresh tension reported, situation willremain tense and India might retaliate with limiting engagement,” he opined.
Ranjan said this year’s standoff is going to overhaul the wholerelationship. “At least New Delhi is seriously pondering. But it’s going tobe a long-term rather a short-term approach,” he said.
Is war imminent?
India’s Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Bipin Rawat last week stated thecountry has “military options” to deal with China if talks between the twocountries fail.
“I don’t see a war happening but tensions will increase because when talksare taking place and suddenly you attempt to do something in a fresh area,it is an enormous provocation. I am saying both countries will not go towar. But, with all these things, who knows what will happen in comingtime,” said ex-army commander Hooda.
Ranjan echoes the views of Hooda. “Leaders of both countries are matureenough to calculate the cost and benefit of the war. I believe that bothsides will try to avoid a full-scale confrontation but as India and Chinaare rising and are neighbors with long unsettled boundaries, more frictionsare on the road ahead,” he said.
Political commentators in India believe the standoff may find a solutionthrough diplomatic talks.
“I think that it will find a diplomatic settlement. Chinese have alreadypulled back in Galwan. Solution to the standoff is for both to work out arecognized Line of Actual Control,” Manoj Joshi, a distinguished fellow atNew Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation and expert on India-Chinarelations, told Anadolu Agency.
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After the India-China clash in June, there were many calls in India toboycott the Chinese products. Indian daily The Hindu reported in June thatIndian Railways also recently canceled a signaling project that was givento a Chinese firm.
Experts said clashes had led to an anti-China feeling among people in India.
“In the background of 20 Indian soldiers killed, there is a popular pent-upfeeling in India against China. Public opinion polls have indicated it.Some organizations have called for a boycott of Chinese goods,” SrikanthKondapalli, an expert on China affairs at Jawaharlal Nehru University inNew Delhi, told Anadolu Agency. He said: “This movement is acquiring steam.”
Joshi, however, said a boycott is not a good idea. “In my view, it’s …probably not sustainable. But it is an expression of anger among the peoplewho support it,” he said.
China’s territorial sovereignty violated
Reacting to the fresh tensions, China Tuesday urged India to “immediatelystop any actions leading to the escalation and complication of thesituation” in the border region of Ladakh.
“India’s move has grossly violated China’s territorial sovereignty,seriously violated relevant agreements, protocols and important consensusreached between the two countries, and severely damaged peace andtranquility along the China-India border areas,” Ji Rong, a representativeof Chinese Embassy in India, said in a statement. “What India has done runscounter to the efforts made by both sides for a period of time to ease andcool down the situation on the ground, and China is resolutely opposed tothis.”
Ji Rong said Indian troops violated Monday the consensus reached inprevious multi-level engagements and negotiations between China and Indiaand “conducted flagrant provocations, which again stirred tension in theborder areas.”
China’s People’s Liberation Army also accused the Indian side of committingviolations. “Chinese troops are taking necessary measures in response toIndian troops’ provocations and will closely follow the situation andresolutely safeguard national sovereignty, peace and stability at theborder area,” the army’s Western Theater Command said, according to China’sstate-run tabloid Global Times.
Border tensions between the two countries span over seven decades. Chinaclaims territory in India’s northeast, while New Delhi accuses Beijing ofoccupying its territory in the Aksai Chin plateau in the Himalayas,including part of the Ladakh region. Anadolu Agency
