India and China face
off in border standoff
July 24, 2017 | ASHOK
SHARMA and CHRISTOPHER BODEEN Columbia Basin Herald
NEW DELHI (AP) — It was the tiny Himalayan
kingdom of Bhutan that sounded the alarm: Chinese soldiers had
arrived with bulldozers and excavators, and were building a
high-mountain road near India's border — in an area the two
nuclear-armed Asian giants have disputed for decades.
India responded to the call by sending troops
last month to evict the Chinese army construction party from the
Doklam Plateau. Within a few days, Indian media were running leaked
video footage of soldiers from both sides shoving one another atop
a grassy flatland.
The tense standoff has only escalated, raising
concerns in both capitals of an all-out military conflict. Both
sides have made threats while simultaneously calling for
negotiations. The U.S. State Department has urged the two sides to
work together toward a peaceful resolution.
India told China last week that it was ready
to hold talks if both sides pulled their forces back from the
disputed border area. But China countered on Monday by insisting
the road was being built on its sovereign territory, and warned
India not to "push your luck."
India, taken aback by the escalation, has said
the two governments reached an agreement in 2012 that the status of
the Doklam area — which falls between China and India on a
Bhutanese plateau — would be finalized only through joint
consultations involving all parties.
A look at the key background of the
dispute:
AN OLD QUARREL
India and China have faced off frequently
since fighting a bloody 1962 war that ended with China seizing
control of some territory. Troops from both sides still regularly
patrol other unmarked territories, though neither side has fired
any shots in decades. Negotiations since 1985 to settle the
boundary dispute have seen little success.
The land they're currently arguing over spans
269 square kilometers (104 square miles) on a sparsely populated
plateau in western Bhutan, which has no diplomatic ties with China
and coordinates its relations with Beijing through New
Delhi.
But India and China have rival claims to other
Himalayan areas as well, including 90,000 square kilometers (35,000
square miles) in what India considers its state of Arunachal
Pradesh and China refers to as "Southern Tibet," as well as 38,000
square kilometers (15,000 square miles) of another plateau called
Aksai Chin.
Bhutan said the road China has been building
would run from the town of Dokola to the Bhutanese army camp at
Zompelri.
Bhutan's foreign ministry called it a "direct
violation" of agreements reached in 1988 and 1998 to maintain peace
and refrain from unilateral action in the area pending a final
border settlement. "Bhutan hopes that the status quo in the Doklam
area will be maintained," it said in a June 29
statement.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang
said last week that India's border guards, in responding to
Bhutan's call for help, had "illegally trespassed the boundary into
Chinese territory" when they confronted the Chinese army
construction team.
A STRATEGIC AREA
For India, securing the Doklam Plateau is seen
as essential to maintaining its control over a land corridor that
connects India's mainland with its remote northeastern
states.
India has said the Chinese road project
threatens its access to the corridor, while China has questioned
why India should even have a say in a matter that concerns only
Beijing and Bhutan.
India's army chief warned earlier this month
that India's army was capable of fighting "2 1/2 wars" if needed to
secure its borders.
Indian analysts said China appeared to be
trying to pre-empt settlement negotiations by establishing a
Chinese presence in Doklam.
"China has been trying for a long time to gain
a tactical advantage in this sector," having already established
dominance along the Indian borders at Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh,
said security expert Uday Bhakar, a retired Indian navy officer.
"The Chinese did not expect this resolute Indian response, and
that's why the standoff has continued."
The dispute was discussed briefly without
resolution by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime
Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G-20 summit earlier
this month in Hamburg, Germany. It is expected to be taken up again
when Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval visits Beijing for
another security forum on Thursday and Friday.
UNEASY NEIGHBORS
The Doklam standoff is just the latest of many
irritants dogging relations between the world's two most populous
nations.
For years, India has watched uneasily as China
vigorously wooed Bhutan and other, smaller countries in India's
traditional sphere of influence, including Nepal, Sri Lanka and
Myanmar.
"This is not the first time that we have a
standoff with China," said foreign affairs analyst and retired
Indian diplomat G. Parthasarthy, predicting a period of stalemate
followed by a political compromise if the tensions follow past
patterns.
"China is in an ultra-nationalist mood of
establishing a hegemony power in Asia," he said. "The best thing
for China is to sit down and talk."
China, meanwhile, has been frustrated with
India's refusal to sign onto a massive effort to build railways,
ports and roads reaching from Asia to Europe and the Middle East.
The project includes a China-Pakistan economic development program
aimed at absorbing as much as $46 billion in investment, most of it
from Chinese banks.
China also has complained bitterly for decades
over India's accepting the Dalai Lama as a refugee in 1959. The
Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader has kept his headquarters in
northern India since fleeing Chinese-ruled Tibet.
Despite their disagreements, India and China
entered a trade agreement in 1985 and have stepped up cooperation
in agriculture, science and cultural exchange. But a $46.6 billion
trade deficit favoring China has irked Indian members of
parliament, who call regularly for more balance.