China Must Realise India Can Hit Back

Claiming that the tense situation along India’s northern borders is because China had not adhered to earlier border agreements, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar stated in an interaction with Austrian public broadcaster ORF, “There’s a larger concern, which is based on our experiences.

- Harsha Kakar

The concern is that we had agreements with China not to mass forces in our border areas and they have not observed those agreements, which is why we have the currently tense situation that we do.” Ram Madhav, writing for the Indian Express in mid-December stated, “For China, continuous attempts to nibble away at Indian territory have been normal ever since (China began disputing the McMahon Line (1964) and Sikkim joining India (1975).”

While the PLA attempts salami slicing of Indian territory, blaming India for the incidents, Chinese diplomats talk of improved relations by bifurcating border disputes from diplomatic ties. The Chinese spokesperson Zhao Lijian stated in a press interaction, “Galwan Valley incident took place because India violated all the signed agreements and treaties and encroached upon Chinese territory, illegally crossing the line (LAC).” On the Yangtse incident, Colonel Long Shaohua, a spokesperson for the Western Theatre Command of the PLA, mentioned that “a routine (Chinese) patrol was blocked by the Indian army illegally crossing the LAC.”

The erstwhile Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, mentioned in Delhi, during his last visit in March 2022, “the two sides should put the differences on the boundary issue in an appropriate position in bilateral relations and adhere to the correct development direction of bilateral relations.” The new foreign minister, Qin Gang, writes in an article, “As to the border issues between China and India, the status quo is that both sides are willing to ease the situation and jointly protect peace along their borders.” Border incidents have increased with development of infrastructure on Indian side, which China perceives as a threat.