Signalling its willingness to meet India halfway on creating a new architecture of confidence-building measures on the Line of Actual Control (LAC),Beijing has accepted New Delhis condition that the proposed Border Defence Cooperation Agreement (BDCA) will not amount to freezing current troop levels on the frontier. Responding to the Indian draft of the agreement,sources said China has also clarified that it does not expect the clause on returning inadvertent border-crossers to apply to Tibetans as well. Many Tibetans cross over to India for fear of persecution,a channel India has historically kept open. The second Chinese draft on the BDCA has arrived just days ahead of the next round of Special Representative-level talks on the boundary issue on Thursday. National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon,who will lead the Indian side,is expected to discuss the details with his newly-appointed Chinese counterpart,State Councillor Yang Jiechi. This agreement is a Chinese idea that was first formally conveyed at the bilateral defence dialogue,headed by the defence secretary on the Indian side. The new Chinese administration followed it up quickly and even handed over the first draft of the BDCA in the first week of March. A bit surprised by the sense of urgency China was attaching to the agreement,New Delhi conducted a detailed analysis of the draft and found important areas of concern. These included clauses which alluded to maintaining agreed troop levels along the LAC. Given that China had already built effective infrastructure on its side of the border to allow it to station troops at a fair distance from the LAC,sources said these terms suited Beijing more than New Delhi. Moreover,the flat topography on the Chinese side makes troop movement faster and easier than on the Indian side. The biggest fear was that this could thwart the major military expansion India has undertaken along the LAC. While two additional divisions have already come up,the final go-ahead to set up a new corps,which would amount to a fresh accretion of about 90,000 soldiers,is also due soon. For India,any new agreement should not go beyond providing a better architecture of confidence-building measures to ensure peace and tranquility on the LAC. The other key concern related to the clause on returning inadvertent border crossers. While India has followed this principle with its other neighbours,concerns were raised on whether this would also apply to Tibetans. India wanted this explicitly clarified. After the Depsang face-off,India was also keen that the agreement contain specific measures on dealing with such situations in the future. One of the main problems the Indian side faced during the crisis was the mismatch in communication between what authorities in Beijing were conveying through diplomatic channels and what the local commanders on the Chinese side were telling their Indian counterparts at flag meetings. While earlier protocols make the point that in such situations both sides will re-establish status quo and start negotiations,India wanted these to be amplified in greater detail in the new agreement. All this formed part of the Indian response to the Chinese draft,which was passed on in early-May,ahead of Chinese Premier Li Keqiangs visit. Later,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Li agreed that the two Special Representatives must explore ways to strengthen peace and tranquility on the LAC following the Depsang face-off. By handing over their second draft now,the Chinese side has ensured that Menon and Yang take negotiations to the next level.
