Debate on india china border at galwan valley
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The trajectory of the India-China crisis beginning at Pangong Tso lake on May 5 and the ensuing tragedy, the death of 20 Indian soldiers and Chinese casualties in the Galwan Valley on June 15 raises some important questions on the contours of the Asian Century largely pillared so far by China.
The idea of the Asian Century, of Asian resurgence and renaissance to counter the western narrative, global world order has been warmly welcomed in Asia. But in the last decade, the central pillar of the Asian rise has been China with the assumption that others such as India, Indonesia and members of Association of Southeast Asian Nations would eventually catch up.
While this is yet to occur, a Chinese-led, Chinese-dominated Asia is worrying, given the twists that the India-China border issue has taken and is taking.
Different perceptions
The India-China border issue is no longer mired in Nehru’s legal-historical approach. Since 1988, Rajiv Gandhi’s landmark visit to China and meeting with China’s affable and pragmatic patriarch Deng Xiaoping, the issue moved to the political plane, where it has since rested in peace.
Several political-institutional safeguards are in place, including the 1993 accord on Maintenance of Peace and Tranquility; in 2013, the Border Defence Cooperation Agreement was signed, an agreement that both sides will not use force in a border stand-off, and in 2014, a Closer Developmental Partnership was forged when President Xi Jinping visited India.
The truth about the border is that perceptions on the Eastern, Middle and Western sector are markedly different in India and China, which explains why Indian media routinely cites 3,500 kms of border and China 2,000 kms. There are at least four claim lines in the Eastern sector. The late sinologist Mira Sinha-Bhattacharjea explained that in the eastern sector the McMahon Line, rounded off and rationalised according to the “highest watershed principle”, the customary line north of the Brahmaputra and the Line of Actual Control were the four claim lines.
Similarly, in the Western sector there are three varying claim lines. Thus “status quo” and “unilateral change in status quo” are relative terms.
A satellite image of Galwan Valley taken on June 16, 2, released by Planet Labs. Credit: Reuters
Information drought
In India, access to the information on the recent India-China altercations have been as always via “highly placed sources” or selective, monitored leaks of satellite pictures and information by such “highly placed sources”. China has largely maintained silence, as has the country’s official media indicating either a “Stealth War” or that China wants to keep the issue low-key, keep the doors open for diplomatic and political rapprochement and for managing domestic sentiment in case things go wrong (as this case clearly shows a need for China).
An official statement from China came before the Galwan Valley incident on June 15 via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On June 6, spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that the border was stable. After the Galwan valley incident, spokesperson of the People’s Liberation Army, Western Theatre Command Zhang Shuili affirmed that the sovereignty over Galwan Valley vested with China.
China’s official media has not reported the Galwan Valley incident nor the casualties. A Chinese journalist based in Shanghai (who prefers to remain anonymous) said that the figure (35 Chinese casualties attributed to US journalist Paul Shinkman who cited US Intelligence) has not been picked up by Associated Press, the BBC or Reuters – because it is not any official figure – and China does not usually release any casualty figure on their side.
As for China’s regulated media, a search on Baidu (China’s Google) on India throws up articles on India’s aspirations for a Security Council seat or India-China economic and military gap but none on the current dynamics or casualties.