Opinion Keep your patience
Delhi has responded to Doklam stand-off with commendable restraint and sobriety. It must be ready for a long haul
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Express Archive
It has been more than a month now since Indian troops and the People’s Liberation Army have been in a stand-off at Doklam at the tri-junction between India, Bhutan and China. It is to the credit of the Indian side that it has been moderate and measured in its response. There is none of the shrillness evident during the 2013 Depsang stand-off.
In New Delhi, there has been a commendable effort at keeping the rhetoric down. The briefing by the National Security Adviser and Foreign Secretary to Opposition parties has helped to impress on all sides the need for sobriety and restraint in this moment. In sharp contrast, the Chinese side has flown off the handle, keeping both the decibel levels of the rhetoric and nationalist temperatures high.
There have been direct and indirect warnings. An over-the-top recall of the 1962 war in the Chinese media and a CCTV video of live-fire drills purportedly near the site of the standoff were clearly meant to create a scare. The Indian moderation may be read as an indication of India’s vulnerabilities, but the truth is that China too has little to gain by escalating this row. India and China must now move towards resolving the crisis through talks. The scheduled July 27 visit by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval to Beijing for a meeting of BRICS NSAs should be utilised by both sides to break the impasse.
The easiest and most sensible way out for both sides would be for both armies to go back to status quo ante, the pre-June 16 position, and to talk about the issues that led to the crisis. India and China are both bound by the 1993 agreement for maintaining peace and tranquility, strengthened by a host of other later agreements, to resolve their border issues through talks.
In the present instance, it is China that has altered the status quo unilaterally, in complete disregard of these agreements. The fact that the Chinese push is directed at a third country, Bhutan, may enable China to claim that this is not a bilateral concern for India. But that would be a specious claim.
India and Bhutan have agreements laying down obligations on both sides. And what China does in Bhutan is ultimately an alteration of its status quo with India. Moreover, there is also an India-China agreement that the trijunction will be decided in consultation with the third country. New Delhi must make it clear that there will be no unilateral climb-down from its side. The situation may take time to be resolved, as it did during the Sumdorong Chu standoff in 1986 near Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh. India must be patient and prepare for a long haul.
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