a step further
| Date :21-Jun-2020 |
THE statement of Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi at an all-party meeting that there are no Chinese troops on Indian soil at that moment, denotes a step further towards the resolution of the current border crisis in Galwan River Valley in eastern Ladakh. It is of course true that India is dealing with the inscrutable China, and nothing can be fathomed or predicted about the possible next step by Beijing. Thus, the crisis may stretch a little more, a little longer and bother India for some more time. Yet, the very fact that there were Chinese troops on Indian soil at a given moment and none of the forward Indian posts was captured by the intruders, may suggest a little easing of the otherwise tense situation.
This language of caution also underlines, howsoever subtly, that the Chinese are ugly adversaries with little sense of scruples. For, soon after Mr. Narendra Modi’s closing remarks at the all-party meeting, Beijing was reported to have issued a claim that the Galwan River Valley belonged to China. This claim, of course, is utterly nonsensical and without any legal or moral validity. But this is how the Chinese have always behaved -- in a mule-headed manner, refusing to see sense, or showing no respect to the other side’s morally correct stand. Hence the need for India to go only a step at a time exercising full caution against taking any hasty decision.
It is obvious that diplomatic parleys will continue between New Delhi and Beijing for some time. No matter those, India has followed a simple idea of how to handle the current situation; it has backed its diplomacy with tough military posturing which Beijing had only half-expected. For, as the Chinese belief went, the stiff 73-day face-off at Doka La three years ago was only a one-time happening uncharacteristic of India’s persona. There are reasons to suspect that the Chinese did not expect such a response from India this time. The fierce scuffle in the night of June 15-16 claiming as many as 43 Chinese troops was something Beijing had never expected.
That was the reason why the Chinese retracted to their own territory, leading the Prime Minister to inform the all-party meeting that there were no Chinese troops on the Indian soil at that given moment. The subsequent Beijing claim that Galwan Valley belonged to China was, thus, just an exercise in obstinacy -- only to keep its foot in the door, for a possible benefit in diplomatic parleys later on.
For India, that could be a ticklish point to handle. Yet, given the tough Indian posturing in the current situation, Beijing must be wondering if it is handling things correctly or not. For, at least so far in the current stand-off, many of Beijing’s calculations seem to have gone awfully wrong, in the process handing down to China a sense of isolation from many angles. Beijing may have expected some Indian posturing, but may not have been able to anticipate how tough New Delhi could become. It is this no-nonsense approach that has halted the Chinese in their stride. All the tricks they tried this time met with a stern response from the Indians. The Chinese may have succeeded in sneaking an entry into Indian territory. But subsequently, all they met was only frustration handed down to them by India.