Despite sporadic expressions of new-found friendship and good neighbourliness by Beijing, the ground situation is that Chinese hostility towards our country remains in place. Sugar coated words and smiles are not based on true intentions and the Chinese are adepts in the art of masking their intentions. But it does not mean that India will be bullied every time. The Chinese would be making a big mistake if they think that India of today is what they conjectured about her in 1962 when they betrayed trust and launched incursion through our eastern border into Arunachal Pradesh. Chinese history is replete with incidents of territorial aggrandizement and expansion. The British during their rule over India had drawn the McMahon line, which the Chinese had not contested. But soon after the British left India, China began staking claim on large chunks of Indian territory thus throwing to wind the established borders. In violation of previous understanding and commitments, China grabbed Tibet, an autonomous region and then began laying claim to Arunachal Pradesh and raking a dispute over the border line in Ladakh. As China has grown in her economic power and has become an active member on international political scene, she has inducted fresh blood into her territorial ambitions primarily against India to her west and to Japanese islands in the east.
Some months back Chinese troops clandestinely intruded twenty miles inside Indian territory in Daulat Baig Oldi sector in Ladakh and pitched their tents. When confronted by Indian side, the Chinese commanders entered into a dialogue with the Indian field commanders and then withdrew to their side. This was followed by exchange of views on the border issue by the two sides on political level and the Chinese agreed that small incidents needed to be resolved by bilateral talks among the field commanders. They gave the impression that if at any time they strayed erroneously into our side of the border, this would be resolved by the local commanders jointly. This was taken as a genuine approach to the question. But the Chinese behaved differently ever since the Daulat Beg Oldi incident happened. We are told that the Chinese have been making intermittent attempts to intrude clandestinely into our side of the line and thus vitiate the peaceful atmosphere on the border. It is just that the Chinese are testing the ability of the Indians to counter their intrusion. But we will reiterate that Beijing should understand that China and India are two big countries of the Asian Continent in terms of landmass, human resource, and technological dimension, and also in terms of moral responsibility of maintaining peace and order in the region. China should not be under the wrong impression that India of 2013 is the India of 1962. China has changed a lot ever since. So has India. The two countries have to tell the world that big neighbours can live in peace and harmony and not push forth their territorial or other irritating agenda.
India has to respond to Beijing’s stance, the stance of making frequent intrusions and vitiating the atmosphere. As a result, a high powered team of the National Security Advisory Board led by its Chairman has landed in Ladakh and got engaged in serious consultations with concerned seniors as well as the representatives of Ladakh like the Chairman of Leh, Kargil Hill Council and politicians hailing from Ladakh. The Ladakhis are reported to have made very useful and suggestive input while discussing the measures that could be taken to neutralize Chinese expansionist designs in Ladakh. We cannot understand why the Government of India imposes restrictions on local villagers and shepherds of border areas in Ladakh from moving their flocks into the meadows and grass lands that stand on the border as they have been doing so for decades in the past. Why should the Indian citizens be denied the right of movement in the territory of their own village? The Ladakhi leadership has rightly pointed out that when the nomads are kept away from the pastures, the Chinese soldiers seize the opportunity of filling the gap. They move in by stealth and then claim that the area belongs to them. This is a tactical mistake and should be rectified immediately.
China should stop testing our patience. Entire nation stands behind the Government in taking any step to counter Chinese menace on our borders. We welcome the visit of the NSAB and are hopeful they will make positive recommendations. There are two areas that need to be addressed. One is to streamline security mechanism along the border with China in Ladakh. The second is that of upgrading security and defence infrastructure along the border. The Chinese have been engaged in building roads and air strips close to our border in Ladakh. In contrast, we have neglected these unavoidable requirements. We would surely skip these requirements if the neighbor was a peace loving country and respected international laws of good neighbourliness. That is not the case. The team wills what requirements are to be met with on priority basis so that our infrastructure meets our requirements on this crucial border. The presence of local people in the border and their cooperation, which has always been there, are of great value. The nation is behind the Government in whatever steps it takes to ensure dimensional security of our borders with China and Pakistan.
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