THE deal between China and India on patrolling their disputed frontier in the Himalayan region, after a four-year military standoff, is a positive development, but it is only the first move towards thawing ties, analysts said.
It is against this backdrop that Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are expected to meet in Kazan, south-western Russia, on the sidelines of the 2024 Brics summit. Many observers view the meeting as a reaffirmation of the breakthrough in ties between the two Asian giants.
Both leaders have not held substantive talks since 2020. They met briefly in Johannesburg, South Africa, in August 2023, on the sidelines of the last Brics summit of emerging economies.
Prof Lin Minwang, deputy director of Fudan University’s Institute of South Asia Studies, said that tensions over border issues have persisted since deadly clashes in 2020, and the situation has now reached a “logical point” where they have to consider whether the cost of the standoff is worthwhile.
“The hardest and most pressing issue is now resolved, which is of symbolic importance. Of course, the next step is to talk about the military forces along the border, but currently, the forces are not in any proximity to cause any confrontation,” said Prof Lin, who is also the assistant dean at the university’s Institute of International Studies.
The border patrolling agreement was first announced by New Delhi on Oct 21. Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said it has brought the situation back to where it was before the 2020 clash, thereby completing the troops’ “disengagement process” with China.
He noted that “patience and persevering diplomacy” had allowed the two countries to reach an understanding.
A day later, on Oct 22, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian confirmed at a regular news conference that both sides had “reached a resolution”, and China gave it “positive approval”.
This comes after “close communication through diplomatic and military channels on issues related to the China-India border”, Lin said.
The next stage will be for China to “properly implement” the resolution with the Indian side, he added.
Exact details of the arrangement have yet to be made public, and there is no clarity on whether it will lead to both sides reducing troop strength along the border as winter sets in.
On Oct 22, the Indian Foreign Ministry divulged a few more details, saying patrolling and also grazing activities – pertaining to Indian shepherds who had been unable to take their sheep, yaks and goats for grazing – would resume in the contested areas.
Both India and China maintain a significant military presence along their 3,440km border, also known as the Line of Actual Control, which is largely undefined and has been a point of contention between them.
Relations between the world’s two most populous nations dropped to a historic low in June 2020, when a deadly clash in Ladakh’s Galway Valley resulted in the death of at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers.
It was the first fatal confrontation since 1975. The clash was fought with fists, sticks and rocks, as a 1996 agreement prohibited the use of guns and explosives near the border. — The Straits Times/ANN
