ThePrint asks:
Is it possible to break the India-China border talks deadlock?
Chinese state councillor Yang Jiechi, who also serves as the country’s special representative in border talks with India, will be in New Delhi for talks with Ajit Doval, India’s national security adviser.
The meeting will capstone a difficult year for India-China ties, following the summertime standoff at Doklam that, in August, returned to a slow simmer from a near boil following deft, behind-the-scenes diplomacy. Since the so-called “disengagement” at Doklam, Chinese and Indian troops have remained in the region, still mired in a standoff.
Here are other sharp perspectives on the question:
Lt Gen. (Retd) S.L. Narasimhan, member, National Security Advisory Board
Harsh V. Pant, Professor of International Relations, King’s College London
In the meantime, India and China are learning to treat their public disagreements head on. During the recent meeting of external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, both were willing to acknowledge a dearth of trust in the relationship. However, the trust deficit is about more than Doklam and the border. China’s reticence about India’s membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, its obstructionism for the designation of Pakistan-based terrorists at the United Nations, and the insistence on India’s participation in its ‘One Belt One Road’ initiative loom large.
For now, as Doval and Yang meet, the task will be to restore some trust and keep some momentum in border talks, which will have reached the 20th round with the upcoming meeting. New Delhi and Beijing have made hard-won progress over the years, with major agreements reached in 2013, 2005, 1993, and more. The Doklam standoff showed how precarious that progress may have been. It also reinforced that confidence-building alone won’t assure tranquility as China grows more powerful and self-confident. The task at these talks for Wang and Doval, then, will be to restore some momentum and find the space for good-faith bilateralism at the border. Unfortunately, the general state of India-China ties makes that outcome more challenging than it should be.
The author is a senior editor at The Diplomat