China punctuates dialogue with aggressive cross-border action

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BJP activists protest in Jammu against the alleged incursion by Chinese troops into Indian territory—AP

On March 22, 2013, Chinese PLA’s Deputy Chief of General Staff, Lt. Gen. Qi Jianguo, heading an eight-member delegation, met defence minister A.K. Antony, defence secretary Shashi Kant and had talks agreeing, according to the DPR Defence press release, “to finalise the plan of bilateral exchanges between the Armed Forces of India and China. It was agreed that the strengthening of exchanges between the Armed Forces should be carried out as a way of building mutual trust and confidence and consistent with the overall bilateral relationship between both countries. The implementation of measures to ensure continued ‘peace and tranquillity’ along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) was also discussed.”

These talks were a follow-up of the meeting between defence secretary Kant and Gen. Qi in Beijing in the January 2013 Annual Defence Dialogue of which both are co-chairs.
However, 23 days later, on the night of April 15 a Chinese PLA platoon came reportedly varying from 10 to 19 km inside Indian territory in Burthe, Daulat Beg Oldi sector, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) at an altitude of about 17,000 feet, and established a post there. While a couple of flag meetings over the next 10 days or so failed to convince the Chinese, it remains to be seen how Mr Antony’s statement to media: “We are taking every action to protect our interest... We will take every step to protect our interest,” will be implemented on the ground. “Negotiations and consultations are on at various levels to find a peaceful solution to the Chinese incursion issue in Ladakh”, said Mr Antony.
Earlier, external affairs minister Salman Khurshid is reported to have said that India was “not a pushover” and that the issue of Chinese incursion in Ladakh would be resolved before he visits Beijing on May 9. He also referred to the matter as mere acne that mar an otherwise beautiful face. A look back at some incidents in the past few years will make it obvious that the Chinese impression of India’s present political leadership in fact is that they are pushovers and that this incursion is much more serious than acne.
By the end of August 2009 there were at least 26 violations of Indian air space in the Eastern Ladakh part of Jammu and Kashmir by Chinese helicopters which dropped canned food for Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers busy painting their country’s name on rocks in Indian territory. Indian Army border troops reported on July 31, 2009 that Chinese troops had entered nearly 1.5 km into the Indian territory and painted “China” in Cantonese script on various rocks and boulders along the Zulung La pass.
August 2009, was a month packed with Sino-Indian negotiations at New Delhi, followed by Indian Army’s then GOC-in-C Eastern Command (and later Chief) Gen. V.K. Singh visiting Beijing and even Lhasa, capital of Tibet, is not surprising, but the fact that they are in J&K, where Pakistan has been brewing trouble for decades, came as a new development which raised some worrisome questions.
Another interesting development earlier was in 2006 with the Chinese ambassador to India publicly declaring that Arunachal Pradesh was Chinese territory. A month later the Chinese conducted joint military war games West of J&K, codenamed “Friendship 2006”, to mark the 55th anniversary of Sino-Pakistan diplomatic relations. Subsequently began the Chinese build-up in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, which now amounts to an Army division.
Chinese are known for punctuating diplomatic dialogue with India “in an atmosphere of warmth” with some aggressive cross-border action.
In May 2007, BJP MP Kiren Rijiju from Arunachal Pradesh made a startling claim that China had moved 20 kilometres into the Indian territory. “It has been continuing for a long time. I have raised the issue in Parliament. The government is not accepting the incursion openly. But defence personnel do acknowledge that this is happening and that the Chinese are occupying our land.” said Rijiju and claimed that ministry of external affairs had admitted to Chinese occupation of Arunachal Pradesh.
The Chinese build-up and incursions in early 1950s brought to the notice of then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru were trashed by him for his belief in Panchsheel and “Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai” which finally resulted in the 1962 Chinese aggression.
In 1967, when PLA upped the ante at Nathu La, Sikkim, by mortar bombardment and direct fire killing some Indian Army officers and soldiers, Ms Indira Gandhi overturned the 1962 humiliation by sanctioning use of artillery requested for by the then Brigade Commander, Brig. M.M.S. Bakshi, resulting in a PLA convoy being destroyed and about 400 of its troops being killed. The message that 1962 cannot be repeated went to the Chinese very effectively. However incursions by Chinese continued in some form or the other.
Thereafter, the first major step forward was Rajiv Gandhi’s path-breaking visit to China in 1988. Narasimha Rao took the process forward and in September 1993 by signing a Treaty of Peace and Tranquility between the two countries, which also signified India quiet acceptance of loss of 90,000 sq km of its territory.
Increased political contacts and agreements followed over the next few years and by November 2000 remarkable progress was made by India and China exchanging maps marking out a 545-km section of the international border between Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal (now Uttarakhand), known as the “middle sector”, which had relatively few disputes compared to the western and eastern sectors.
This agreement was considered significant because it moved the talks from broad principle to practical details of physical measurements.
As plainly expressed in Parliament by President Pranab Mukherjee, when he was the external affairs minister, there is no clearly defined boundary separating China and India. “China illegally claims approximately 90,000 sq km of Indian territory in Arunachal Pradesh and about 2,000 sq km in the middle of the India-China boundary,” he then stated. China also controls 38,000 sq km of territory India claims in J&K.
Coming back to the current stand-off, it is reported that in the second flag meeting, China demanded dismantling of certain Indian military installations near the LAC in eastern Ladakh as a precondition for troop withdrawal. Other demands are reduced helicopter flights by the Indian Army and Air Force and less aggressive patrolling along the border.
While the crux of the problem is “difference of perception” about the LAC in the absence of any demarcation, China’s hegemonic mindset, voracious appetite for territory, sustained modernisation and enhancement of offensive capability and now stepping into J&K, India needs to take urgent steps to be able to at least give calibrated responses in no uncertain terms.