“The prospects for early movement on the boundary question are not particularly bright,” says Ashok Kantha, former ambassador to China.
The distrust evident since the Galwan Valley clash has hardened, on both sides, add to that President Xi Jinping sees the boundary dispute as a “sovereignty” issue where not an inch of territory will be given up.
That makes problematic any resolution since it may require some territorial compromises by the two countries.
Ambassador Kantha was a guest on The Gist, answering questions about the recent border disengagement agreement with China and his own scepticism about some of the claims the government has made.
While he was appreciative of the government clarifying that patrolling in the Depsang Plains had resumed, it was not clear if in Demchok, in eastern Ladakh, troops were patrolling up to the Charding Nalla junction.
The other concern related to External Affairs Minister Dr Jaishankar’s reference to “steps of a limited and temporary nature”, which is a euphemism for buffer zones.
“This involves restrictions on Indian troops visiting patrolling points … denying access to Indian graziers to pastures they were using earlier … we don’t know how temporary and limited this arrangement is .. so our objective has to be what the Chief of Army Staff stated publicly … that we go back to the status of April 2020,” said Ambassador Kantha.
He warned that if these buffers, some on Indian territory, are allowed to continue the Chinese would have succeeded in their objective of “materially changing facts on the ground to their advantage.”
He warned that the Chinese always seek to make incremental gains while staying under the threshold of outright military conflict. If they have patrolling rights in eastern Ladakh then the government must clarify.
The bottom line is restoration of status quo as of April 2020, which is what the army chief has been saying.
Tune in for more in this conversation on India and China in the context of recent agreements on the boundary.
