Checking CHINA

WHAT EXPLAINS CHINA’S CURRENT AGGRESSION? AND WHAT ARE INDIA’S MILITARY, DIPLOMATIC AND ECONOMIC OPTIONS TO COUNTER IT?

- RAJ CHENGAPPA, SANDEEP UNNITHAN AND JOE MATHEW

When Indian external affairs minister S. Jaishankar spoke to his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the telephone on June 17, he began by pointing out that the border clash on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh had been the most violent they had seen between the two countries since they began their careers as diplomats. Both Jaishankar and Wang are in their mid-60s and had served in their respective foreign services before becoming ministers. The last time a soldier died in a fracas at the LAC was in 1975, two years before Jaishankar joined the Indian Foreign Service. Now, 45 years later, India has reported 20 deaths on a single day, including that of a colonel who was commanding the battalion stationed there. China has so far been mum about casualties on its side, but Wang’s aggressive posture of blaming India for the clash suggested that even Chinese forces had taken a hard hit. Jaishankar charged China with “a premeditated and pre-planned” action that resulted in the casualties and wanted corrective steps to be taken. They ended the conversation by agreeing that both sides will implement the disengagement understanding reached on June 6 when the corps commanders of the two armies had met and agreed to ensure “peace and tranquility”.