August 28, 2017
China-India border standoff ends: India pulls troops from disputed area
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
The border dispute between China and India ended Monday (August 28, 2017) as India agreed to China's demand to pullout troops from the disputed Doklam territory.
India said on Monday it had agreed with China to pull back troops to end a months-long face-off along a disputed Himalayan region.
A statement issued by external affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said the “expeditious disengagement of border personnel” that both sides had agreed on had “been almost completed under verification”.
Kumar said the two sides had diplomatic exchanges in recent weeks over the situation on Doklam plateau in the eastern Himalayas that allowed them “to express our views and convey our concerns and interests”.
Spokesperson Kumar noted that the two sides had agreed on the margins of the SCO Summit in June that “differences should not be allowed to become disputes and that India-China relations must remain stable”.
“Our principled position is that agreements and understandings reached on boundary issues must be scrupulously respected,” he added.
Chinese statement
Soon after India announced the disengagement, the Chinese foreign ministry said “Chinese personnel on the ground have verified” that Indian forces withdrew to their side of the border on Monday afternoon.
“In the light of the changes of the situation on the ground, China will make necessary adjustment and deployment,” China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a daily news briefing.
Chinese forces will continue to patrol Doklam - a region disputed between Bhutan and China - to exercise the country’s sovereignty and uphold territorial integrity, she said.
China had repeatedly said India must withdraw its troops before any proper negotiation takes place. India said both sides should withdraw their forces together.
Withdrawal of Indian troops from the disputed territory puts a lid on one of the most serious disputes between the nuclear-armed neighbors who share a 3,500-km mountain frontier that remains undemarcated in most places, Hindustan Times said adding: "It came days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi travels to China to attend a summit of BRICS, a grouping that also includes Brazil, Russia and South Africa."
Speaking from China's capital, Beijing, Al Jazeera's Adrian Brown said that the "high-stakes, high-altitude problem" was over for now. "This dispute has been going on for 55 years but China is making it clear that it is not giving up its historical claims," he said. "It says it wants to work with India to maintain peace but it said India must respect China's historical borders."
China-India border Standoff
India and China have been locked in a standoff over the Doklam plateau for over two months now.
The dispute began in June, when the Indian soldiers stopped Chinese troops from constructing a road in the border region. India claimed the construction in the region will seriously affect the security in the tri-junction and the sensitive Chicken Neck that connects the northeast with mainland India.
Last week, China released a video titled '7 sins of India', about the Doklam border standoff.
"On June 18, Indian troops carrying weapons and driving two bulldozers crossed the Sikkim sector and entered Chinese territory. It obstructed Chinese road works in the region causing a standoff between the two sides," says the Xinhua video.
"It (India) should remain sober and guard against any future poor judgment...Any spiral into some kind of hostile rivalry could be disastrous," the video warned.
Sino-India frictions raise potential for open conflict: CRS
Intensified frictions between India and China raise the potential for an open conflict and could serve as an "impetus" for further US-India strategic cooperation that could have implications for Beijing, Press Trust of India quoted a Congressional report as saying.
The two-page brief report by bipartisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) titled 'China-Border Tensions at Doka La' was released on August 9 but reported by the PTI on August 19.
"Intensified frictions raise the potential for open conflict and could serve as an impetus for further US-India strategic cooperation that could have implications for China."
Bruce Vaughn, Specialist in Asian Affairs, the report writer, pointed out that the border standoff at Doka La marks a shift in China-India ties that likely has more to do with the broader relationship than with the Himalayan border alone. "An intensification of rivalry between China and India appears to be underway," he wrote.
"For New Delhi, China's efforts to block India from membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group, develop the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor through a part of Kashmir claimed by India, protect a Pakistan-based terrorist from UN sanctions, and develop China's strategic presence in the Indian Ocean littoral have combined to increase New Delhi's frustration with and suspicion of China," Vaughn wrote.
"China has been wary of India's decisions to not attend China's Belt and Road summit in May 2017, allow the Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh, and continue to develop strategic ties with the US. Given these larger dynamics, as well as specific statements and posturing on Doka La, it may be some time before the dispute is fully resolved," the report concluded.
Abdus Sattar Ghazali is the Chief Editor of the Journal of America.
The Journal of America Team:
Editor in chief:
Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Senior Editor:
Prof. Arthur Scott
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