Iqbal Khan
India’s incursion into Chinese territory has violated the 1890 Convention between Great Britain and China Relating to Sikkim and Tibet, which stated that the Donglang area is on the Chinese side of the Sino-Indian border. On August 09, China’s Foreign Ministry published a paper giving details of the incursion and rebuking India’s excuses for their action. On June 18, more than 270 armed Indian border troops and two bulldozers crossed the boundary in the Sikkim Sector at the Duo Ka La (Doka La) pass and advanced more than 100 meters into Chinese territory to obstruct road building of the Chinese side.
After more than one month, 48 Indian border troops and bulldozer still illegally remain in the Chinese territory. On August 10, Beijing released two photographs showing Indian troops and at least two military bulldozers on the Chinese side of the border. “The Donglang region belongs to Chinese territory and it is very clear the conditions of the threshold where the areas are that were trespassed by the Indian troops,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said.
Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Ren Guoqiang stated on August 10, “India has seriously undermined China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” India also violated the United Nations Charter and “brutally trample” on basic international law and basic principles of international relations. The military have exercised “great restraints” on the issue to maintain the two country’s relation and regional peace and security, he said. “But goodwill does not mean no principle, restraint does not mean no bottom line.” India should abandon its fantasy of expecting change by stalling the situation, he said. “The Chinese military will resolutely protect its territorial sovereignty and security interests,” he added. “We strongly demand India to immediately withdraw its troops back to the Indian side of the border, and resolve this incident swiftly and appropriately, thus return peace and harmony to the border region.”
For over a month, Indian and Chinese troops faced each other eyeball-to-eyeball on the Doklam Plateau, a Chinese territory in the Himalayas.Reports of Indian incursion and confrontation between troops surfaced as Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Washington to meet US President Donald Trump. Probably he took along the news of this “accomplishment as” a sort of progress report on India’s anti-China action plan to pleaseequally erratic Trump.
Doklam is a patch of land near the junction of Bhutan, Tibet, and the Indian state of Sikkim. Territory is also claimed by Bhutan. Going by the Chanakyan adage “enemy’s enemy is ones friend”, India backs Bhutan’s claim. Current impasse was triggered by China’s decision to build a road on this territory. The Chinese construction project began in June.This led to Bhutan’s protests.
Since Narendra Modi’s becoming Prime Minster, India has been feeling itchy to get entangled with China. So, through back channel communication, India prompted Bhutan to invoke a bilateral treaty renewed in 2007; terms of this treaty allows Bhutan to ask for India’s help to address its security concerns, Bhutan took the bait and put-in a request to New Delhi. Waiting in the wings, India jumped the fray promptly by enhancing its troops in the zone and sending in 270 personnel and two bulldozers with orders to stop Chinese construction.
As per umpteenth time rehearsed Indian script against its smaller neighbours, Indian media and think tanks community created a hype that time was opportune for India to avenge its 1962 disgrace. They projected that Chinese rag-tag military was no match to India’s state of the art armada and that time was ripe to bag an outright victory. And that recognition of India’s super power status was just held up due want of this victory.
Modi’s perception was that after Indian intrusion, Chinese side would come running for negotiations that would help India keep its troops inside Chines territory through prolongation of talks. And at the same time, it will be able to portray to Americans that it is fit enoughto perform its role in America’s “Contain China Strategy”. American were in the meanwhile holding their breath to see how their proxy performs.
To India’s dismay, China took an altogether different approach to the crisis. It took a superpower like stance and refused to engage India into takes unless it pulled back its intruders. With Chinese catching it by throat, India hardly has any option.Out of 270 intruding Indian soldiers only 48 have been left behind, rest are back to pavilion. Withdrawal has been a quite affair, to avid domestic backlash.
While addressing a PLA training establishment recently, Chinese President Xi has asked its military “to train for winning the wars”. Present day China is not shy of war. During the standoff China’s media put up a befitting response to Indian media’s hollow hype, it steadily threatened New Delhi with dire consequences unless it withdraws its troops from the area.
From New Delhi’s perspective, China’s activities along the troubled border represent Beijing’s latest attempt to undermine India’s close ties with some of its neighbors. If China can intimidate India into abandoning one partner, it could set an important precedent. At the same time, China could diminish India’s political influence over Bhutan.Some Indian analysts also argue that if China completes the road, it would be easier for its forces to cut off the narrow strip of land that connects India’s heartland to its northeastern states.
Chinese are often dismissive of the prospects of India’s rise in Asia, however China recognizes that due to pathological anti-China inhibitions and American backing,India will continue to demonstrate its so called capability to stand up to Beijing. Over the last three years China has radiated a number of indicators to convey India that it takes its territorial sovereignty quite seriously;India chose to misread it
What makes India itchy are the gains that China has recently made in other South Asian states. Recently, a state-owned Chinese firm secured a 70 percent stake in the deep-water port of Hambantota in Sri Lanka; and Colomboignored Indian objections on the issue.Moreover, China has upgraded its relations with Bangladesh and Nepal as well. It is the largest arms supplier to Bangladesh. India’s arrogant attempt to back the modification of the Nepal’s constitution in 2015 on behalf of a beleaguered ethnic minority, the Madhesis, gave China an opening. And when India engineered a fuel blockade of Nepal, Beijing quickly came to its assistance, rolling back India’s influence.
In utter hollowness, Indian Army Chief General Rawat, had recently touted that India was prepared to fight and win not just for a two front war but for a two and a half front war. His pronouncement was a fake bravado, indeed an ill-conceived attempt to reassure the public and simultaneously keep up the soldier’s morale. Facts point to the contrary. As of now Indian Air Force is unfit for war, its Army’s huge armor inventory is not usable in the Chinese theatre, both Navies are any not relevant to this hilly area conflict. Hence, it will be a fight between Mountain formations of the two countries. India’s Comptroller and Auditor General’s recent report suggests, that Indian military possesses only 20 percent of its critical ammunition, hence there is not much that the Indian military has to fight China with.
Times of India has summed up India agony “However, one thing is certain, that in the event of a conflict we will once again be faced with the distressing sight of our Service Chiefs being forced to repeat General Malik’s words of utter helplessness at the height of the Kargil Conflict, “We will fight with whatever we have”.
