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Thursday March 28, 2024

The Sino-India standoff

By Dr Naazir Mahmood
July 01, 2017

When the Indian army chief landed in Sikkim on June 29, he found the state and its people in a standoff with China. Over 300 Buddhist and Hindu pilgrims had been turned back from the border by the Chinese guards and China had demanded that the Indian army stop its incursions into Chinese territory.

Per the Chinese foreign ministry, India had been informed about a travel ban on pilgrimage to Tibet because of security concerns. The bordering region between Sikkim and Tibet has some sacred sites which Indian pilgrims visit for spiritual reasons.

This border between China and India has remained tense since the 1960s with occasional skirmishes. China had recognised Sikkim as a protectorate of British India in 1890 and this princely state was occupied by India in 1975. Now, China claims that India has been violating this established border by trying to build bunkers within the Chinese territory. The Sino-Indian border is around 3500km long, of which the border with Sikkim is just 220km, but this small stretch has been a cause of disagreement for various reasons. One of these is the Chinese sensitivity about the continued Indian support to the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people.

Whenever the Dalai Lama visits any of the bordering areas, the Chinese government sends strong signals of resentment, including charges of border violations and occasional firing or destruction of border check posts and even bunkers. This summer the Chinese are showing their anger by not allowing Indian pilgrims into the Chinese territory. From the Indian side, charges are levelled against China for incursions into Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand–all with long borders with China. And now India has accused China of trying to open a new front in Sikkim.

The recent border tension between China and India is a severe blow to the bilateral relations, which have seen many vicissitudes during the past half century or so. Lately, China has started building a road in the bordering area and, apparently, India is hampering the work for obvious reasons. The Indian media has reported that Chinese forces have destroyed some Indian check posts within Indian territory. The recent standoff is a new turn in the tension that was triggered after the Dalai Lama’s visit to the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh in April.

China considers such visits a provocation despite the Indian affirmation that it recognises Tibet as Chinese territory. India claims that the Dalai Lama’s visits have a purely religious purpose without any political motivation. But such Indian statements pale in front of the protests Tibetans stage against the Chinese occupation of Tibet. Every March, Tibetans living in India observe the anniversary of the failed rebellion of 1959-60 in Tibet against China. They take out processions that are allowed by the Indian authorities, resulting in Chinese indignation against India.

This year, after the Dalai Lama’s visit to the bordering state, China changed some of the names of Tibetan bordering villages.

Now that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has had a successful visit of the US, the Chinese authorities have been able to bring to the fore an outstanding border issue that has riled India. China’s success in negotiating and concluding the CPEC agreement with Pakistan and similar ones with other countries has placed India in an awkward position. The recent Chinese initiative to mediate between Afghanistan and Pakistan has shown China’s increasing influence in this region. India can no longer assume that Afghanistan will forever remain under its grip.

Increasing Indian reliance on the US reminds one of similar Pakistani miscalculations of the past 70 years. Pakistan neglected its immediate neighbours and relied on a far-flung friend that was not even a friend in the most crucial times. The American penchant for protecting its own interests at the cost of its ‘friends’ should not be so difficult to understand by the Indian establishment. Pakistan has paid dearly for its misplaced priorities and now India seems to be heading in the same direction. Not that Pakistan has learnt anything; it appears to be following the same path with Afghanistan, India, and Iran.

The only change Pakistan has witnessed is its much closer ties with China and Saudi Arabia in comparison with its links with the US, whereas India has had its own share of change in terms of closer ties with the US. The tense border with China had earlier landed India in big trouble in the 1960s and at that point not even the USSR could intervene on behalf of India. Now the US is in no position to help India if it fails to sort out its mess on the borders. The only sensible way out for India, as it is with Pakistan, is to focus more on its immediate neighbours.

No distant relative can help anyone at odds with their neighbours. If China is embarking on a journey of economic and infrastructural progress with neighbouring countries, the sound option for India is to join the bandwagon without further ado.

 

The writer holds a PhD from the
University of Birmingham, UK and
works in Islamabad. 

Email: Mnazir1964@yahoo.co.uk