Category: Borders

• Belligerence and Silence: Explaining Chinese Actions Along the LAC in Ladakh

  What should be concerning in the wake of Galwan and the reported loss of lives also of Chinese troops, is that Beijing will now be particularly prone to viewing any Indian action as provocative and seek to respond in an overwhelming manner as a way of saving face.

• Reorienting India’s China Policy Towards Greater Transparency

  The deaths of Indian soldiers along the LAC at Galwan is a watershed moment in India-China ties. If the relationship is not to spin out of control, India needs to develop military, economic and intellectual muscle certainly but also adopt transparency and openness to questions as a central plank of the reworking of its China…

• A Growing Chinese Presence in Nepal

  China’s influence in Nepal has grown in recent years but in many instances, the Chinese have merely stepped into breaches created either by India’s inability to keep its promises or by its insensitivity.

• Covid-19 Introduces New Tensions in India-China Relations

  With the COVID-19 pandemic, the name “Wuhan” has become much better known in India than it ever was for the April 2018 informal summit between Modi and Xi in that city. It remains to be seen which of these two legacies from Wuhan will last in India-China relations.

• Vacuous Summitry

  Structural problems between India and China are unlikely to be resolved by two leaders having ‘informal’ dialogues or meetings without agendas.

• India-China Relations: Running on Empty

  The Indian and Chinese governments have set their ties a very low bar of achievement talking essentially soft issues like cultural exchanges which are low-hanging fruit but which are unlikely to help repair in a hurry the high degree of bilateral political mistrust

• Chinese Reactions to India’s Reorganization of Jammu & Kashmir

  There is little that actually changes on the ground on the LAC between India and China despite the latter’s rhetoric. It could also be reasonably argued that a change in the status of J&K is not a major concern for China in so far as it involves Pakistan.

• India-China Boundary Dispute: LAC Transgressions Will Continue

  The next ‘informal summit’ between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping will be held in Varanasi on 12 October. The announcement of the date has been accompanied in recent days by a series of reports on the state of affairs on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between the two countries.…

• China’s Reactions to India’s Attack on Balakot, Pakistan

  China professions of neutrality in South Asia cannot be taken seriously and are, in fact, attempts to create a false sense of equivalence between India and Pakistan.