New Delhi (Parliament Politics Magazine) – There seems to be a common theme around political issues at the moment namely that of border conflict – India and China not being an exception. India and China share a border of approximately 3400 km. On June 16, 2020, China’s soldiers from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army had crossed over into India, which caused a fight to break out, and shortly after both sides lost many lives.
The number of Chinese lives lost is unknown, as China won’t reveal them, however, the editor-in-chief of The Global Times says that it was less than that of India’s. India lost 25 soldiers that night.
This isn’t the first tension between the two countries, as in 1962 there was the Sino-Indian war. What followed after this fateful night is rounds and rounds of talks at nearly every level between the two countries in order to reduce the tensions. So far eight rounds of talks have been held at the Senior Army Commander’s level and twenty-eight rounds at the diplomatic level.
Despite the many talks, it seems like no resolution has been found. The problem lies in the fact that India doesn’t view China’s intentions as genuine and believes that there is no authentic willingness to work together on resolving the border conflict.
China’s crossing the border into India violates a written agreement from 2012 according to India. The agreement stated that any conflict would be handled verbally only. It is also assumed that due to China’s current aims of finding more allies, India is just very cautious and observant of China’s political aspirations.
A war between India and China would be disastrous as China has approximately five times the military power than India. India is aware of its big disadvantage and has mentioned that it aims to improve it.
China and Russia have been getting closer, which India is not a fan of. Russia has had made attempts to create an alliance with Pakistan. Pakistan is viewed by India as most definitely not an ally.
However, it’s not only India that is discontent with China, but also vice versa. China does not view India as an equal which causes tension in and of itself, but additionally, China does not appreciate India joining the Quad. Russia feels the same way.
