FOREIGN POLICY ON PRECARIOUS PERCH DESPITE CLAIMS

India has moved closer to the US to counter China. But with increasing uncertainty in the West’s geopolitical calculus, the Indo-Pacific strategy has lost its fizz

- MK BHADRAKUMAR

AS the year 2023 draws to a close, a tumultuous period for Indian foreign policies needs to be weighed with some plainspeaking. The paradox is that Indian foreign policy is in a crisis mode today although the country faces no threat of external aggression and a new normal' exists vis-a-vis its neighbours, including China.

The remarks made by Lt Governor of Ladakh, Brigadier (Retd) BD Mishra, in a recent interview regarding the IndiaChina border standoff were absolutely stunning. Mishra tore into the narrative about 'Chinese incursions' into Indian territory and asserted that "there is not a single step or boot of the Chinese which is on our side of that land".

Mishra said, "The perception is that they are in our area, the Chinese say that we are in their area. We say that LAC runs along a particular place so there is a bit of clash of perceptions, but despite that, no Chinese boot is on this side of that area... The deployment is along the no man's land. That has to be maintained.

And our boundary as per our perception runs in that no man's land. When people say that they (sheepherders) are not permitted to go anywhere, it is not that Chinese have come. It is because there is a no man's land." It appears that, quintessentially, the India-China standoff is still about Mission Creep in no man's land in the name of road construction or sheep grazing for more than half a century. For someone of Mishra's stature, who was posted in that sensitive border region while serving in the army, the remarks were imbued with candour; that is very rare for an entrenched establishment figure. Yet, the fact that he hasn't been reprimanded for the brutally frank remarks makes the episode more meaningful in political and diplomatic terms.