India, China Border Pact No Solution
By Tom Wright
Indian and Chinese soldiers posed for a photograph on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control, on the India-China border. But the border talks have made little progress.
India and China’s agreement Tuesday to set up a mechanism to settle border disputes is unlikely to help lead to a broader pact over the disputed frontier. India and China fought a border war in 1962. Beijing won that conflict and until now neither side has officially recognized the 4,000-kilometer Himalayan border, which is referred to as the “Line of Actual Control.” Border talks began in 1981 but have made little progress.
The two hot-spots are at the western and eastern extremities of the border. China refers to the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh as south Tibet, inferring it to be part of China’s territory. In 2009, it complained about a visit to the state by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, saying it was disputed territory. At the western end of the border, India wants China to hand back a desolate area of Himalayan territory it calls Aksai Chin.
On Tuesday, foreign ministry officials from both countries signed an agreement in New Delhi that sets up a “working mechanism” to help stop future border disputes from escalating, as they have in recent years.
Under the agreement, a group of diplomats and military officials will meet once or twice a year in each country to agree on areas of cooperation along the border. The group, however, will not discuss how to resolve the actual border dispute.
Sounds vague?
Well, with both sides so far from agreeing on where the border lies this is about all they can come up with at the moment, says Brahma Chellaney, an analyst at the New Delhi-based Center for Policy Research, a think-tank.
“It’s designed to be vague,” he says. “When they can’t agree on where the Line of Control lies how can they agree on anything else?”
Still, the pact shows an improvement in rhetoric, if little else, since China’s complaint in 2009 about Mr. Singh’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh.
China and India have attempted to reduce tensions, sending out patrols on alternating days along the most contentious areas of the border so troops don’t come into contact.
Although there’s been little progress on the border, bureaucrats are hoping to build on a trade-induced thawing of relations in recent years.
Bilateral trade is expected to top $100 billion by 2015 and is up more than twenty-fold in the past decade, making China one of India’s top trading partners. India still complains of a massive trade imbalance, but China has promised to allow Indian IT and pharmaceutical firms better access to its giant market.
For now, though, the border dispute is far from being resolved.
Wall Street Journal
By Tom Wright
Indian and Chinese soldiers posed for a photograph on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control, on the India-China border. But the border talks have made little progress.
India and China’s agreement Tuesday to set up a mechanism to settle border disputes is unlikely to help lead to a broader pact over the disputed frontier. India and China fought a border war in 1962. Beijing won that conflict and until now neither side has officially recognized the 4,000-kilometer Himalayan border, which is referred to as the “Line of Actual Control.” Border talks began in 1981 but have made little progress.
The two hot-spots are at the western and eastern extremities of the border. China refers to the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh as south Tibet, inferring it to be part of China’s territory. In 2009, it complained about a visit to the state by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, saying it was disputed territory. At the western end of the border, India wants China to hand back a desolate area of Himalayan territory it calls Aksai Chin.
On Tuesday, foreign ministry officials from both countries signed an agreement in New Delhi that sets up a “working mechanism” to help stop future border disputes from escalating, as they have in recent years.
Under the agreement, a group of diplomats and military officials will meet once or twice a year in each country to agree on areas of cooperation along the border. The group, however, will not discuss how to resolve the actual border dispute.
Sounds vague?
Well, with both sides so far from agreeing on where the border lies this is about all they can come up with at the moment, says Brahma Chellaney, an analyst at the New Delhi-based Center for Policy Research, a think-tank.
“It’s designed to be vague,” he says. “When they can’t agree on where the Line of Control lies how can they agree on anything else?”
Still, the pact shows an improvement in rhetoric, if little else, since China’s complaint in 2009 about Mr. Singh’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh.
China and India have attempted to reduce tensions, sending out patrols on alternating days along the most contentious areas of the border so troops don’t come into contact.
Although there’s been little progress on the border, bureaucrats are hoping to build on a trade-induced thawing of relations in recent years.
Bilateral trade is expected to top $100 billion by 2015 and is up more than twenty-fold in the past decade, making China one of India’s top trading partners. India still complains of a massive trade imbalance, but China has promised to allow Indian IT and pharmaceutical firms better access to its giant market.
For now, though, the border dispute is far from being resolved.
Wall Street Journal
