NEW DELHI—India and China have mutually pledged to accelerate efforts at resolving their longstanding border dispute, after a high-level meeting between Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
However, analysts say complete disengagement along the India—China border is a complex issue that will not happen easily, given current perceptions of the border.
The two officials met in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Sept. 12, as officials from across the globe met for the 14th annual BRICS national security advisers meeting. Originally an association of Brazil, Russia, India, and China, BRICS expanded in 2010 to include South Africa and last year opened its doors to the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran, and Saudi Arabia.
“Both sides agreed to work with urgency and redouble their efforts to realize complete disengagement in the remaining areas,” the Indian External Affairs ministry said in a statement on the day of the meeting.
The two sides reviewed their recent efforts to resolve the pending issues along what the Indian side calls the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The Indian statement said an “early resolution” would create conditions to stabilize and rebuild bilateral relations.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said during a regular press conference on Sep. 13, “In recent years, front-line armies of the two countries have realized disengagement in four areas in the Western sector of the China-India border, including the Galwan Valley.” The Galwan Valley was the site of a bloody conflict in 2020.
Describing the border situation as “generally stable and under control,” Mao said of the Doval–Wang meeting, “The two sides discussed progress made in recent consultation on border issues and agreed to deliver on the common understandings reached by leaders of the two countries, enhance mutual understanding and trust, create conditions for improving bilateral ties and maintain communication to this end.”
India and China share more than 2,000 miles of disputed border, and each side has a different perception of the boundary. Chinese claims have continuously changed since 1949, when communist leader Mao Zedong annexed Tibet and East Turkestan. The annexation of the two areas removed a crucial buffer zone and brought the Chinese border to India’s doorstep.
In 1962, the two countries engaged in a full-fledged war in which the Chinese further encroached upon the Indian territory. The Chinese incursions continued after the war’s end. However, the Galwan conflict in 2020—in which 20 Indian soldiers and an undisclosed number of Chinese soldiers lost their lives—marked a major escalation.
Stepped-Up Meetings
Meetings between officials of the two sides also took place in both July and August, the shortest space between meetings since 2020.The two met again in late July in Laos, on the sidelines of an ASEAN meeting, to review the situation once again.
‘Easier Said Than Done’
While the news of the Doval–Yi meeting made global headlines, experts say that disengagement will not be easy in reality.“It is easier said than done, for the simple reason that in the first place, China has never admitted to [having] changed the status quo in [Eastern] Ladakh,” Claude Arpi, a French-born, India-based China expert told The Epoch Times on Sept. 13.
China’s Legislature passed a land borders law in 2021 stipulating that the state shall “promote coordination between border defense and social, economic development in border areas.” The law gave impetus to China’s development of significant civilian and military infrastructure along the border.
Arpi said India and China’s differing perceptions of the current border add to the complex relationship between the two countries.
“Further, there is not one LAC, but two: the Indian-perceived one and the Chinese-perceived one. Are both sides ready to agree on one LAC? It would be a first step,” he said, adding that another major issue is that the “LAC” has moved over the years.
“Just have a look at the Line, which was agreed [to] by the Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in 1956 (and reconfirmed in December 1959). It is far from the present Chinese claims.”
On Sept. 12, Indian Foreign Minister Jaishankar, speaking at the Geneva Center for Security Policy, said “75 percent of disengagement problems are sorted out” in eastern Ladakh but that the last 25 percent are the most “complex.”
Arpi concurred with Jaishankar’s widely quoted assessment, and added, “to put it mildly.”
Depsang and Demchok: Remaining Friction Points
Depsang—a high altitude, table-top plateau—lies in eastern Ladakh in the disputed Aksai Chin region and is divided by the LAC into Indian- and Chinese-controlled regions.The village of Demchok—historically the last village in Ladakh before the Tibetan border—is nestled at the foot of “Chhota Kailash,” a holy mountain revered by both Buddhists and Hindus. After the 1962 Sino–Indian War, Demchok was divided into Indian- and Chinese-controlled portions, separated by a narrow strip of land and a stream. The Chinese-controlled portion is administered as part of the Tibet Autonomous Region.
To solve the issues in these remaining friction points, Arpi said, both India and China would need to sign a map with an “agreed line of control or agreed buffer zone,” in which troops from both countries either jointly or alternately patrol the territory.
“This concept already exists in [the] Gogra-Hot Springs area,” Arpi said.
Engaging While Disengaging
Meanwhile, there is evidence that while China is disengaging, it is simultaneously building up its military presence along the LAC.Images provided by the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies corroborated the establishment of this base.
“Commercial satellite imagery also shows what appears to be barracks and other new infrastructure in the Galwan Valley. These new sites point to an increasingly permanent Chinese military presence along the border,” Rajeev and Stephenson said in their report.
