India and China have shared a long and often chequered history with the greatest culmination coming as a complete breakdown of all diplomatic channels due to Chinese aggression resulting in the 1962 Indo-China War. Now, almost half a century later, this is the closest we’ve come as a nation to the brink, the Doklam standoff while serious was no where close in terms of casualties or actual action down the LAC and that has been widely considered as the closest the two nations have gone to actual military action in recent history.
The two nuclear armed neighbours have a long drawn out history of face-offs and overlapping territorial claims along the more than 3,440km (2,100 mile), poorly drawn Line of Actual Control (LAC) separating the two sides. Border patrols have often bumped into each other, resulting in occasional minor skirmishes. But no bullets have been fired in four decades.
The brawl if it may be termed as such is the result of a series of sustained escalations by China into Indian claimed territory as a response to the building of a road network to a high altitude base that India reactivated in 2008. The most recent one before this incident was the claims by India about China extending about 60 Sq Kms into Indian territory. Chinese forces put up tents, dug trenches and moved heavy equipment several kilometres inside what had been regarded by India as its territory in Galwan valley in Ladakh.
The actual details of the skirmish remain unclear, with independent sources the first to release reports of casualties and the Ministries later confirming the same. India says the two sides have been exploring military and diplomatic channels to de-escalate the situation and that senior commanders had a "productive meeting" on 6 June. They agreed "on a process of de-escalation" and subsequently, the ground commanders had a series of meetings to implement the consensus, India's foreign ministry said.
India said both sides suffered casualties after the Chinese "unilaterally tried to change the status quo." And China accuses India troops of "violating" the consensus, crossing the border twice and carrying out provocative attacks on Chinese personnel".
There is reason to believe that China is responding as a result of internal pressures due to economic pressure as well as International corralling in terms of what we see in Taiwan, Hong Kong or its tariff war with Australia. Other experts believe that Indian delayed exercises in Ladakh in March as well as road building might have been construed as aggression and given existent factors, China would have taken it as the best way forward. Regardless of the respective dynamics, we can only wait and see what the respective nations do as a response, whatever the outcome, the International community will have a very close eye on the situation with both nations wary of external influences,
コメント