India China Border Talks

What in news?

The 20^th round of the Special Representative (SR) talks between India and China on the border question was recently held.

What is the significance?

India was represented by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and China was represented by State Councillor Yang Jiechi (member of the Polite Bureau).
Significantly, Polite Bureau is the chief decision making body in China and this is first time that an official of such high-rank spearheaded the talks.
This meet is also important as it comes after a long pause of 20 months after the previous round (usual gap is 1 year) and after the 70 day Doklam standoff.
Above all, they were guided by the Modi-Xi agreements of 2017, including the ‘Astana consensuses’ that “differences must not become disputes”.

What are the focus areas?

Agreement on “Political Parameters and Guiding Principles for the Settlement of the India-China Boundary Question” formulated in 20o5 is the key focus.
The three major parameters of discussion were

Notably, the SRs were given an extended mandate this year, and thus went well beyond the remit of merely discussing the resolution of boundary issues.

But despite all this bonhomie, there are multiple challenges that look difficult to resolve.

What are the challenges?

Despite the signing of the 2013 Border Defence Cooperation Agreement, there has been a steady decline in relations in all spheres.
The border has seen more transgressions, people-to-people ties have suffered amid mutual suspicion.
China’s forays in South Asia as well as India’s forays into South-East Asian sea lanes have increasingly become areas of contestation.
India sees China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and its other forays into the Indian neighbourhood as an endeavour for total geo-political domination.
Furthering its concern is the intrusive “China-Pakistan Economic Corridor” that runs through the disputed PoK, and Chinese hurdles for India in the NSG and UN Security Council Resolutions on Terrorism.
In turn, Beijing sees the U.S.-India defence agreements, the Quadrilateral engagement with Japan, Australia and the U.S., and Indian opposition to the BRI as India’s anti-China attitude.

What does the future hold?

The stand-off at Doklam highlighted the importance of settling the border question at the earliest.
The understanding reached earlier at Xiamen that India-China relations “are a factor of stability” in an increasingly unstable world needs to be strengthened.
Even if a complete and permanent settlement is elusive on the outstanding issues, reaching a workable compromise immediately is important.

Source: The Hindu