Whatever may be said in respect of the outcome of the military level talks and even through diplomatic channels between the two Asian giants – India and China, one thing emerged there-from is that along with arm twisting and hostile gestures vain fully displayed by China, it found a formidable and an entirely changed India ready to defend its borders for which even if an offensive was required as a strategy, irrespective of consequences for either side, it would not hesitate. The two countries, thus, reached an agreement during the talks between External Affairs Minister S. Jaishanker and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Sept 10. That the two Ministers met on the sidelines of the meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Moscow and reached at an agreement is manifestation of the resolution of differences of whatever nature through the accepted and recognised channels of sitting across and discussing issues. It is another thing, at the outset, Chinese Minister had no satisfactory explanation or even a clarification of Indian query of the purpose of the troops and equipment built up in an unprecedented manner along the LAC in eastern Ladakh but the five points have opened up cushions for both sides to give de-escalation a full chance though the entire escalation, provocation, acts of hostility and attempts of disturbing the status quo, have all been on Chinese side.
Since building ground and creating space for opening up the channels of talks and that too amidst the position of the troops of the two sides facing each other in a virtual eyeball to eyeball position, required diplomatic skills, prior to the meeting of the External Affairs Ministers of the two sides, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his counterpart Gen. Wei Fenghe had, in this context, met in Moscow. The numeral 5, however, has been in commonality between the two countries as it may be recalled that the then two Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Zhou Enlai in 1954 had signed an agreement called as ”Panchsheel” or 5 Principles of Peaceful Co-Existence to bring peace and stability in the region torn by wars for independence, bloody migrations and religious rioting. When Chinese President Xi Jinping had met Prime Minister Modi on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in 2017, he had expressed his desire to work with this country on the basis of the same Panchsheel which China had torn to shreds in 1962. The replica of the same was attempted to be repeated by it in Dokhlam followed by bloody clashes in Galwan in June where 20 soldiers were martyred and at least three times as many Chinese casualties followed again by fresh attempts to alter the position of LAC at some other points. Hence, despite chalking out a 5 points strategy to work on, China may or may not stick to it is hard to anticipate. The fact, however, is that by all reckoning, China stood to plunge into a totally disadvantageous and unfavourable position in case of a prolonged or intensified stand-off with India and this time, it should give the 5 points of de-escalation process a fair and sustained chance.
Let it be hoped that the two and a half hours long talks between the External Affairs Ministers of the two countries result in providing a roadmap, a guide as to how the stand-off was eased to be returned to normal positions. The position had started to getting turn for the worst as on Sept 7, for the first time, even shots were fired after a gap of nearly over 45 years while the two sides accusing each other of firing in the air. However, dialogues needed to be carried forward, disengagement exercises started taking place as early as possible and soldiers of the two sides maintained proper distance from each other. The Ministers on both sides agreeing that differences should not turn into disputes and ”the need was of cooperation and not confrontation” and better understanding, apparently has opened space for peace to be restored in the specific areas of Ladakh region. The task, both sensitive and critical, that of total de-escalation at the ground level, was to be done by the military commanders of the two sides which we hope would depend on how much China emerged sincere. The latest reports are that the next levels of talks at Commanders’ level were going to be held very shortly in respect of how the 5 point roadmap was going to be translated into reality.
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