http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/19/w...-to-resolve-border-issue-in-kashmir.html?_r=0
This time, Indian analysts seemed happy to concede that their side was largely to blame for the escalation of tensions along the Kashmiri border. “The Indians have normally been very placatory,” Mr. Guruswamy said. “But this time, it’s India’s show of force.”
NEW DELHI — Smiles rarely left the faces of the top leaders of India and China here on Thursday, but India’s new prime minister sent a tough message to his Chinese guest by pressing him for a resolution to a border dispute that escalated abruptly.
A large contingent of Indian troops, which one official said numbered in the thousands, was mobilized on Thursday to face an equivalent number of Chinese troops in Ladakh, Kashmir, a largely high-altitude barren Himalayan landscape where jingoism and military misery have dominated for decades.
Only India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, could have ordered such a mobilization, said Mohan Guruswamy, a military analyst with the Observer Research Foundation.
The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, is in the middle of a three-day Indian visit that has been billed as the beginning of a great economic and political partnership between China and India. A number of deals, including those for high-speed trains and economic zones, had been promised at a total price tag that officials hinted could reach as much as $100 billion — nearly three times what Japan, China’s foremost Asian rival, recently promised to India.
But Mr. Modi made clear to the Chinese that India’s patience with an uncertain border situation had worn thin and that any great crop of deals must await a territorial resolution, analysts said.
“The prime minister sent a very strong signal that the Chinese have to agree to a fixed line of actual control before we start doing serious business with them,” Mr. Guruswamy said.
Instead of $100 billion in deals, the two sides agreed to a more modest target of infrastructure and industrial development that was valued at $20 billion to $50 billion. In a news media briefing, Mr. Modi made some of the most pointed remarks about the border uncertainty with China that any Indian leader has uttered in decades.
“I raised our serious concern over repeated incidents along the border,” Mr. Modi said.
“While our border-related agreements and confidence-building measures have worked well, I also suggested that clarification of the Line of Actual Control would greatly contribute to our efforts to maintain peace and tranquility and requested President Xi to resume the stalled process of clarifying the L. A. C,” he added, referring to the border between the two countries.
India has been pressing China for years to delineate a clear boundary between the two countries, hundreds of miles of which are in dispute. Both sides have been building up their military presence in the region in recent years.
“We’ve always been the ones pressing for a defined and well-controlled line of control, but the Chinese have always been very evasive about it and have refused to give us a map,” said K. Shankar Bajpai, a former Indian ambassador to China. “We’ve always struggled with the question of why.”
Leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which now leads the government, long complained that the previous government under Manmohan Singh was too timid in its dealings with Pakistan and China regarding territorial disputes and incursions. Last year, when a platoon of Chinese troops camped out for weeks in Ladakh, Mr. Singh mostly sought to defuse the crisis. Indian officials said at the time that it was the People’s Liberation Army that created the standoff.
This time, Indian analysts seemed happy to concede that their side was largely to blame for the escalation of tensions along the Kashmiri border. “The Indians have normally been very placatory,” Mr. Guruswamy said. “But this time, it’s India’s show of force.”
Indian military and paramilitary officials declined to provide official comment about the standoff with the Chinese.
A call to the press line of the Chinese foreign ministry was not answered.
Mr. Bajpai, the former ambassador, said Mr. Modi was clearly sending a message to China.
“And his message is that it’s all very nice to talk about business,” Mr. Bajpai said, “but this territorial stuff is not an area where you can play ducks and drakes with us as you have in the past.”
Hari Kumar contributed reporting from New Delhi.
to know more about border dispute in kashmir, read here
Officials dismiss China's Kashmir border claims - The Hindu
This time, Indian analysts seemed happy to concede that their side was largely to blame for the escalation of tensions along the Kashmiri border. “The Indians have normally been very placatory,” Mr. Guruswamy said. “But this time, it’s India’s show of force.”
NEW DELHI — Smiles rarely left the faces of the top leaders of India and China here on Thursday, but India’s new prime minister sent a tough message to his Chinese guest by pressing him for a resolution to a border dispute that escalated abruptly.
A large contingent of Indian troops, which one official said numbered in the thousands, was mobilized on Thursday to face an equivalent number of Chinese troops in Ladakh, Kashmir, a largely high-altitude barren Himalayan landscape where jingoism and military misery have dominated for decades.
Only India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, could have ordered such a mobilization, said Mohan Guruswamy, a military analyst with the Observer Research Foundation.
The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, is in the middle of a three-day Indian visit that has been billed as the beginning of a great economic and political partnership between China and India. A number of deals, including those for high-speed trains and economic zones, had been promised at a total price tag that officials hinted could reach as much as $100 billion — nearly three times what Japan, China’s foremost Asian rival, recently promised to India.
But Mr. Modi made clear to the Chinese that India’s patience with an uncertain border situation had worn thin and that any great crop of deals must await a territorial resolution, analysts said.
“The prime minister sent a very strong signal that the Chinese have to agree to a fixed line of actual control before we start doing serious business with them,” Mr. Guruswamy said.
Instead of $100 billion in deals, the two sides agreed to a more modest target of infrastructure and industrial development that was valued at $20 billion to $50 billion. In a news media briefing, Mr. Modi made some of the most pointed remarks about the border uncertainty with China that any Indian leader has uttered in decades.
“I raised our serious concern over repeated incidents along the border,” Mr. Modi said.
“While our border-related agreements and confidence-building measures have worked well, I also suggested that clarification of the Line of Actual Control would greatly contribute to our efforts to maintain peace and tranquility and requested President Xi to resume the stalled process of clarifying the L. A. C,” he added, referring to the border between the two countries.
India has been pressing China for years to delineate a clear boundary between the two countries, hundreds of miles of which are in dispute. Both sides have been building up their military presence in the region in recent years.
“We’ve always been the ones pressing for a defined and well-controlled line of control, but the Chinese have always been very evasive about it and have refused to give us a map,” said K. Shankar Bajpai, a former Indian ambassador to China. “We’ve always struggled with the question of why.”
Leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which now leads the government, long complained that the previous government under Manmohan Singh was too timid in its dealings with Pakistan and China regarding territorial disputes and incursions. Last year, when a platoon of Chinese troops camped out for weeks in Ladakh, Mr. Singh mostly sought to defuse the crisis. Indian officials said at the time that it was the People’s Liberation Army that created the standoff.
This time, Indian analysts seemed happy to concede that their side was largely to blame for the escalation of tensions along the Kashmiri border. “The Indians have normally been very placatory,” Mr. Guruswamy said. “But this time, it’s India’s show of force.”
Indian military and paramilitary officials declined to provide official comment about the standoff with the Chinese.
A call to the press line of the Chinese foreign ministry was not answered.
Mr. Bajpai, the former ambassador, said Mr. Modi was clearly sending a message to China.
“And his message is that it’s all very nice to talk about business,” Mr. Bajpai said, “but this territorial stuff is not an area where you can play ducks and drakes with us as you have in the past.”
Hari Kumar contributed reporting from New Delhi.
to know more about border dispute in kashmir, read here
Officials dismiss China's Kashmir border claims - The Hindu