Later this month, it will be five years since Indian and Chinese troops were involved in a deadly clash in Galwan, Eastern Ladakh. It was a turning point in India-China relations that have seen earlier border standoffs. Already strained ties went into a deep freeze. Intense negotiations followed but it took over four years for troop disengagement to be completed.
Both sides wanted different things after the Galwan clash. India was in favour of troop disengagement to the April 2020 positions. The Chinese focus was on pinning India down on the resolution of two or three friction points.
Galwan: The Chinese Objective
Former Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale looks at it from a broader perspective. The Chinese objective was to coerce India to stop activity on its side of the LAC, to deny patrolling access to areas that India historically had and hold on to some of the gains in strategic parts of the LAC while reaching a resolution of the Galwan crisis, he says.
India Linked Border To Overall Ties
On the other hand, India ensured that a message was sent right across the LAC: bilateral ties cannot be back to normal till things were normalised at the border.
Therefore the normalisation of relations was in a sense made hostage to the border issue, something the Chinese never wanted to see, Vijay Gokhale told StratNews Global. And that was a departure from 1988 when India was okay with a two-track approach. The border issue would be resolved but normal relations would continue alongside.
The Galwan negotiations upended that, says Ambassador Gokhale. “Our position became that there’s only one track. You don’t move on one, we don’t move on the other”.
Galwan Negotiations: India’s Success
He cites three reasons for India’s success:
- Restoration of patrolling rights to April 2020 levels
- Linking the boundary question to the overall relationship, something the Chinese never wanted, and
- Building public opinion in India that any measures taken against China is in the larger strategic interest
In this interview with StratNews Global Editor-in-Chief Nitin A. Gokhale, the former foreign secretary also shares his thoughts on the Chinese triggers for Galwan and China’s stance during India’s Operation Sindoor.
