THE assertion by Minister of External Affairs Dr. S. Jaishankar that no third party was required to sort out the dispute between India and China, is quite in tune with the overall approach of Indian foreign policy and also suggests that India is quite capable of handling the issue on its own terms. In other words, Dr. Jaishankar seems to suggest that India would not accept any compromise with its foreign policy interests.There is nothing more endearing than such a resolution -- in terms of foreign policy management. For, when a third party is allowed to step into a bilateral dispute, unnecessary angles also threaten to pop up, from the point of view of the third party. Since there are no free lunches in the world of hard numbers and practical interests, any third party would wish to look at the dispute with its own angle butting in. India would never want to entertain any such possibility. The difficulty with handling a dispute with China is that Beijing is quite slippery in its stands on most issues. It does follow an honourable physical protocol all right in diplomatic engagement. But minus that superficiality, the overall reliability count of the Chinese is quite low -- which India has come to understand over decades of diplomatic engagement with China.

 

The Chinese never accept any position put up for the adversary, and also never specify what they want out of the interaction. They appear to come straight to point, but in actuality, they are masters in the art of beating around the bush for endless numbers of meetings and interactions. India has learned this at some cost over decades of diplomacy over the resolution of the border dispute with China particularly in the snow-capped regions of the Himalayas. Because creating permanent landmarks to specify the border or Line of Actual Control due to shifting nature of the snowy landscape is not possible, the Chinese are happy to keep shifting their claims every now and then. India knows this Chinese style and is ready to go long distance in diplomacy -- often using its military prowess to its advantage. Having acquired that experience, India now believes that it can manage the vagaries of dispute-resolution with China on its own terms that may take years to get sorted out point by point. Over time, India has developed its military diplomacy to a status of a fine art.

 

The Indians know when to hold thing tight, and when to let those go loose. They also know how to refer to their military positions and locations to their advantage. Dr. Jaishankar’s assertion that no third party is required to help India to sort out the dispute with China encompasses a wide range of the experiences in different domains of diplomacy . India’s dispute with China dates back to Independence in 1947 -- or even before when the British still ruled the country. The British could not handle the Chinese effectively and left for the succeeding Indians a good deal of muck on the plate. The dispute, thus, has a good baggage from the past. Though diplomacy is not about winning just an argument, but keeping the argument going in the hope of finding a loose and open end through which one’s own interests could be pushed. In the case with China, India has followed this diplomatic dictum. China, too, may not accept any third party intervention in the dispute with India. For, in that case, what comes to bear upon the minds of the disputing parties is the moral authority a mediator usually commands. China is never willing to go along with such a proposition. So, for their respective reasons, both India and China would want to keep the dispute purely bilateral. But what matters most is India’s point of view -- based on the position of its strengths