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Beijing: India has told China to not “shift goalposts” and “confuse” managing the border affairs and restoring peace at the frontiers with the larger issue of the resolution of the boundary question, which is addressed by different designated mechanisms.
After the standoff erupted in eastern Ladakh in May last year, India has consistently maintained that peace and tranquillity within the border areas are essential for the general development of relations between the 2 countries.
Besides being neighbours, India and China also are large and emerging economies and “it isn’t unusual to possess differences and problems”, Indian envoy to China Vikram Misri said while addressing the 4th High-level Track II Dialogue on China-India Relations persisted September 23.
“The key question is the way to affect them and make sure that outcomes are informed by reasonableness, maturity and respect for the upkeep of peace and tranquillity along our frontiers,” Mr Misri said.
The meeting held virtually was co-hosted by the varsity of International Studies of Sichuan University (SCU), China Centre for South Asian Studies and Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA) during which several former envoys and students took part.
Besides Mr Misri, China’s Ambassador to India Sun Weidong also participated within the meeting.
Referring to “multi-faceted dialogue” held by the 2 countries since last year including several rounds of talks between the highest military officials on each side and therefore the meetings between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi to resolve the military standoff in Eastern Ladakh, Mr Misri said: “These contacts have resulted in significant progress on the ground”.
“Following disengagement within the Galwan Valley in July last year, the 2 sides are ready to disengage from the North and South Banks of the Pangong Lake in February 2021, and last from Gogra in August 2021,” he said.
“The conversation between the 2 sides continues regarding the remaining locations and that we hope that disengagement at the remaining friction areas will enable us to succeed in some extent where we will devour the threads of bilateral cooperation,” he said.
“The experience of this multi-faceted dialogue over the last year and a half leads me to believe that we are well-equipped when it involves resolving pressing issues within the bilateral relationship,” he said.
“Our leaders have within the past concurred that we must compute issues peacefully, prevent differences from turning into disputes and, most significantly , preserve peace and tranquillity in our border areas,” he said.
“The recent experience also suggests that at the bottom level, when managing a difficult bilateral situation, finding a resolution hinges on mature minds, open channels, and consistency between words and actions. But while these are positive elements we will draw on, we must steer beyond certain obstacles which could block progress,” he said.
“The first is to avoid shifting goalposts. For long, the Indian and Chinese sides have adhered to a well-understood distinction between resolving the boundary question and managing border affairs,” he said.
“The 1988 understanding between our leaders was precisely for keeping the resolution of the boundary question on a track separate yet parallel to the bilateral relationship, with the upkeep of peace and tranquillity because the prerequisite,” he said.
The Special Representatives mechanism, the Agreement on Political Parameters and Guiding Principles of 2005 and therefore the three-phase framework were all designed to figure on the boundary question, “which we agreed was a posh and sensitive issue requiring time to figure through,” Mr Misri said.
“This is that the root explanation for the tense situation along the borders. We advocate that we should always address the boundary issue through peaceful negotiations and that we don’t think that the border issue should be linked up to our bilateral ties,” he said.
But at an equivalent for managing border affairs on a day to day , the 2 countries had evolved a mechanism, “consisting of instruments like the WMCC (Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs) and a succession of agreements, protocols and CBMs, so as to control behaviour on the bottom and ensure peace and tranquillity”.
“A serious violation of peace and tranquillity within the border areas naturally requires us to use our minds on the idea of established agreements, protocols and mechanisms to resolve it. As we do so, any plan to confuse border affairs with the Boundary Question may be a disservice to the work of these involved find solutions,” he said.
This is why the Indian side has been consistently saying that the present issue is about restoring peace and tranquillity to the border areas and isn’t about the resolution of the larger Boundary Question, on which India’s stance has not changed, despite what happened last year, he said.
Mr Misri also said China shouldn’t take a one-sided view of mutual concerns and sensitivities.
“The second obstacle is to require a one-sided view of concerns and sensitivities, where one’s own preoccupations trump any of these flagged by the opposite side,” he said.
“As EAM (External Affairs Minister) Dr S Jaishankar has stated, India-China relations must proceed on the idea of the three mutuals – mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interests”, he said.
“In a world community where we interact as equals, and as important major neighbours of every other, it can’t be that just one side’s concerns are of relevance while the opposite side”s case goes unheard,” he said.
Safeguarding territorial integrity and national security holds equal value for each side . Affixing blame exclusively on the opposite side isn’t a helpful approach, he said.
“And to press one’s own concerns and disrespect the opposite side’s concerns and sensitivities with none explanation or recourse goes beyond disrespect. It actually creates even more obstacles to finding solutions,” he added.
“The third obstacle is viewing bilateral relations through the prism of relations with other countries. We are two ancient civilisations and two modern Asian nations who have evolved their own independent foreign policies and cherish their own strategic autonomy,” he said.
“For India’s part, i might say that a policy approach that came into its own over six decades ago, continues to be relevant today. India formulates its national and foreign policies on the idea of national interest first and foremost,” Mr Misri said.
“We believe multilateralism but we also are convinced that it must be reformed so as to raised deliver its fruits to all or any stakeholders”, he said.
Both countries engaged in key global dialogues while simultaneously pursuing their objectives in several smaller forums whose members have shared interests, he said.
“Many of those forums include China – the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation), BRICS (Brazil Russia, India, China, South Africa) and RIC (Russia, India, China) are some samples of this and these dialogues have continued even during the difficult phase that our bilateral relationship is passing through,” Mr Misri said.
“India-China relations, therefore, must be judged and managed on their own merits. they’re substantial enough and sufficiently complex that they require their own approach and appropriate handling, without imaginary third factors complicating them further and distracting us from performing on our priorities,” he said.
The two nations must specialise in the particular issues that face them, and use a “sensitive and constructive problem-solving approach” while bearing in mind each other’s essential autonomy of decision-making, he said.
“Addressing and processing differences properly means confronting them head-on and not sweeping them under the carpet. This approach will enable us to try to to what’s necessary to bring relations to a healthier track,” he said.
“I remain convinced that we will resolve our current difficulties without the result necessarily appearing to be a win or loss for either side. A win-win solution for both India and China is extremely much possible and that we remain committed to pursuing it,” he said.
