Find a way to end PLA aggression at LAC

Unfortunately, the two talk at each other with diametrically opposite proposals on healing the wounds and renewing relations. Wang has the gumption to tell Jaishankar that India and China are not a threat to each other after the PLA’s naked assault on the LAC; and that the border issue should be separated from bilateral relations.

Falling short: Diplomacy alone is not enough to curb China’s posturing in Ladakh. PTI

Maj Gen Ashok K Mehta (Retd)

Military Commentator

The writing was on the wall: no further disengagement by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), leaving in limbo the friction points at Patrolling Point 15, Depsang and Demchok. Further, the PLA was unwilling to discuss Depsang and Demchok as these are not a part of the current standoff. PP15 is not negotiable as it dominates the new Chinese road to Galwan. The PLA is known to have offered a counter-proposal for PP 15.

Yet, the joint statement after the 16th round of military talks on July 17 was described positive and forward-looking and included that “complete disengagement will help in restoration of peace and tranquility along LAC in the Western Sector and enable progress in bilateral relations.” This Indian formulation has linked the resolution of the border with the restoration of bilateral ties, which is the exact opposite of China’s position. The Indian diplomacy to achieve complete disengagement or restoration of status quo May 5, 2020 is moving slowly…softly. The China PLA Daily did not even mention the talks.

Coincidences galore. On July 15, just before the talks, President Xi Jinping visited Xinjiang, the military region responsible for Ladakh, to congratulate army commanders, including Qi Fabao, the regimental commander who was wounded during the Galwan clash. The Dalai Lama also arrived in Leh on July 13 for a month’s sojourn. On July 7, Prime Minister Modi felicitated the Dalai Lama on his 87th birthday, triggering customary Chinese noises about interference in its internal affairs. The Chinese consider Ladakh as disputed between India and Pakistan and not on a par with claimed Arunachal Pradesh.

At the recent Shangri La Dialogue in Singapore, Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe blamed India for the ongoing border tensions and said the responsibility for the standoff in East Ladakh did not lie with his country: “Merits of the India-China conflict are very clear and responsibility does not lie with China.” He added, “I personally experienced the start and end to friction as Defence Minister. We found lots of weapons owned by the Indian side. They have also sent people to the Chinese side of the territory.”

There was no one from India from the same pay grade to respond, but Vice-Adm Biswajit Dasgupta, C-in-C, Eastern Naval Command, at another session of the conference, spoke rather softly on China: “China’s naval presence in the IOR is a part of the anti-piracy escort force and, as of now, does not present a challenge. They will need more forces in the future to protect their trade. But at present, no major challenge to the Indian Navy.”

For Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, speaking about China’s infringements and resolve to restore status quo in east Ladakh has become an obsession. His description of Chinese breaches of protocols, written agreements and exchanges with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, are legend. This year alone, he met Wang thrice — at New Delhi, Asean and G20 foreign ministers’ meetings — to secure a breakthrough to the stalemate along the LAC.

Unfortunately, the two talk at each other with diametrically opposite proposals on healing the wounds and renewing relations. Wang has the gumption to tell Jaishankar that India and China are not a threat to each other after the PLA’s naked assault on the LAC; and that the border issue should be separated from bilateral relations. That the two countries should work together and be partners, not rivals, are included in Wang’s Four Mutuals he routinely prescribes. Later this month, they will meet again at Tashkent for the SCO foreign ministers’ meeting, with Wang repeating his scripture.

Jaishankar has coined his own Three Mutuals — Mutual respect, Mutual sensitivity and Mutual interests — and insisted on complete disengagement to restoring peace and tranquility in the border areas, emphasising the importance of the existing protocols. Speaking to young voters at home, Jaishankar noted: “We would like to resolve the border on terms fair, equitable, mutually agreed that do justice to our claims. We can’t resolve it with one country saying: ‘this is the solution’ and for us to accept it.”

In the same vein, he told a townhall meeting that the state of borders reflected the state of bilateral relations, adding: “India will not allow any unilateral attempt to alter the LAC.” Then, on July 11, responding to Rahul Gandhi’s customary jibe on the LAC, he repeated the government’s mantra of maintaining the integrity of the LAC, adding that there were some ‘legacy friction points’ coinciding with what the Chinese have also said about Depsang and Demchok not being a part of the present standoff.

The government has refused to discuss the PLA aggression in Parliament though it has repeated ad nauseum, as Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told a news channel last month, “I want to assure the country that not a single inch of land can go to China’s occupation when we are in government. India is now powerful, not weak as before.”

That territory has been lost under this government’s watch is not in doubt. Former foreign secretaries Shivshankar Menon and Shyam Saran have affirmed this fact. They ask: “What have we been negotiating about for over two years?”

For many, there is hope that diplomacy will work. Wang, while meeting new Indian Ambassador Pradeep Rawat in June, praised India for calling out the West in India-China matters and urged India to meet China “halfway”. At the Globesec 2022 Bratislava Forum, Jaishankar was unable to convince his audience about India’s position on Ukraine, but expressed his disapproval of external forces meddling in India-China ties. This was a thumbs-up for India’s strategic autonomy. But many in the audience wondered: “You are on the Chinese side on Ukraine…and yet you are fighting the Chinese.”

India is seen sitting on the fence vis-a-vis China in the hope that diplomacy will undo the PLA aggression in Ladakh. Only a complete, not a “halfway”, solution will do. Modi and Xi may meet at the SCO summit in Tashkent in September — their first one-on-one post the Ladakh LAC violation. Still, Xi is unlikely to budge from Depsang and Demchok till November, when the 20th Chinese Communist Party Congress will clear him for an unprecedented third term. Till then, pin no hope on Jaishankar’s Three and Wang’s Four Mutuals.