The Hindu Business Line : India-China border tangle

The Chennai Centre for Chinese Studies (CCCS), composed of experienced former high officials and knowledgeable experts, recently organised a colloquium to go in depth into the ramifications of the continuing uncertainty over the border between India and China, and to evolve possible measures to guard against any worsening of the situation in view of the recurring reports of claims and counter-claims, alleged incursions or protests over perceived disturbance of the status q uo.

The need for taking such an initiative and bringing the essence of the deliberations to the notice of the highest levels of the Government at Delhi has become imperative as the dispute was detracting from both countries effectively pursuing their plans for economic development and social regeneration of their peoples, and coming in the way of their efforts to raise their standards of life in a sustained and single-minded fashion. It is in the interest of both countries to get the dispute out of the way within the shortest possible time. The assembled participants looked at the various options, especially in the context of the exception taken by the Chinese to the visit of the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, to Arunachal Pradesh.

Their consensus was that China would most likely find it to be in its interest to prolong the border dispute, but that it was in India’s interest to bring it to a speedy conclusion. The consequences of allowing it to fester and result in mistakes or accidents are both unpredictable and incalculable.

Special mechanism

Meanwhile, India should give a push to the development of infrastructure in the border areas, particularly in Arunachal Pradesh, to further integrate them with the Indian political mainstream. The package amounting to Rs 10,000 crore, recently announced by the Prime Minister, would go a long way in providing a level-playing field for India in comparison with China. Considering the weakness and vulnerability of administration of the North Eastern States in general, the Centre will have to set up a special watchdog mechanism for putting the implementation on a fast track and have the projects completed as quickly as possible.

Also, the defences of the region should be brought up to the level necessary to head off any possible threat to the sovereignty and integrity of the country. Apparently, the Chinese claim over Tawang is based on religious and spiritual considerations and national sentiment. In the minds of a vast majority of India’s population, the religious and spiritual importance of Manasarovar goes back to the misty dawn of the country’s civilisation.

At present, pilgrimages by Indian devotees to that highly sanctified place, rooted in national sentiment, encounter a number of impediments. If only India can obtain jurisdiction over the territory extending from Lipulekh Pass on the India-China border to Zhangmu on the Nepal-China border, with Manasarovar as the centre of the quadrant, it will facilitate easy approach to Kailash. It will be well worthwhile for India to place this proposition in their negotiations with China.

However that be, there was unanimous agreement among participants at the China Centre that the more than 50-year old tangle was not amenable to resolution at subordinate levels by the elaborate and time-consuming three-tier mechanism (Special Representatives, Joint Working Group, Expert group) currently in place.

It is time the matter was taken up at a direct political summit between the top leaders of the two countries to thrash it out and come to a quick settlement. This has a parallel with China-Vietnam border negotiations and the historic rapprochement between themselves brought about by Richard Nixon and Mao Zedong in 1972.

B. S. RAGHAVAN

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