The Tortuous Normalisation

BEIJING'S 'ILLEGAL, COERCIVE, AGGRESSIVE AND DECEPTIVE' STRATEGY WILL TEST NEW DELHI

- Harsh V Pant Kalpit Mankikar

China's tendency to spring a surprise at every juncture in the tortuous trajectory of its dynamics with India is redoubtable. There was a perception that ties were on an upswing after China and India agreed to disengage and resume patrolling in Depsang and Demchok in October 2024, and which was followed by both sides trying to normalise their relationship after a straining four-year military stand-off.

The mirage of rapprochement has been hit by China's illegal and deceptive actions that have repercussions for the Line of Control (LAC). China created two counties in Xinjiang's Hotan prefecture, and portions of these new administrative units lie in the Union Territory of Ladakh. The timing of this development is interesting since it comes soon after the meeting of the two special representatives (SRs) – India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and China's foreign minister Wang Yi. An agreement signed during then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's official visit to Beijing in 2003 put in place the SRs' framework that was tasked with looking into ways to resolve the boundary question from a political perspective. New Delhi immediately lodged a diplomatic protest, stating that it had never agreed to Beijing's illegal occupation of Indian territory, and that promulgation of the new administrative units could not alter India's position.