What in news?
The 20th 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
- Defining the guidelines for the settlement of border disputes
- Formulating a framework agreement on its implementation
- Completing border demarcation
- 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
