518 POSTS
Praveen Swami is a Contributing Editor to ThePrint, and writes on issues related to national security, intelligence, police and regional geopolitics. An award-winning journalist who has extensive experience of reporting from theatres of conflict in the Middle-East, India and East Asia, he is the author of two books on the Kashmir conflict. Praveen can be reached at praveen.swami@theprint.in
History is full of conflicts and wars and borders always kept on changing. You cannot stop in resolving current issues just because historical conflicts existed. Resolving the border issue is the first step towards normalising India-China relations. Yes, there are further steps ahead, but you cannot take those steps until you comple the first step.
This column sets out some things I have long suspected but never got into too deeply. The Dalai Lama was given asylum in 1959. In 1962 India and China were at war. When Indian and Chinese diplomats, security officials meet, the true facts are known to both sides. So perhaps the constructive thing to do would be to not double down on past errors of judgment. Accept too that although at the time of independence, both counties were roughly at par, a condition that lasted for a few decades, there is now a 5 : 1 asymmetry. It cannot be bridged or overcome by friendship with USA. Japan and Australia are too far away to play any meaningful in India’s security calculus.
Will post my second comment after reading this excellent column. The first one after reading the blurb. That has always been my view as well. The areas in contention are not Shenzhen and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. Which is why it is possible for India and China to improve their relationship, which has a very large trade component, even as a comprehensive border settlement proves elusive. 2. It is not in India’s interest to enter into a costly arms race with China. Economically and militarily, China is in USA’s league.