Advertisement
China-India border dispute
This Week in AsiaPolitics

India-China standoff talks will focus on troops returning to ‘pre-dispute’ positions: experts

  • Saturday’s meeting will involve Lieutenant General-ranked officials on both sides, a move that has been described as unprecedented
  • India will call for things to return to the way they were a month ago but should also seek clarity on sovereignty along the 3,488km disputed border, experts say

Reading Time:4 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
Both countries, with strong leaders and nationalistic political discourses, may seek to avoid the appearance of compromise on the issue of sovereignty. Photo: AP
Kunal Purohit
When India’s top military officials meet their counterparts from China on Saturday to resolve the latest face-off between troops high in the Himalayas, they are likely to urge all troops to return to their pre-dispute positions, said Indian military experts.
Advertisement
But they should also aim to seek clarity on sovereignty along their 3,488km undemarcated border known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC), to prevent flare-ups from recurring, said Lieutenant General (Ret) D.S. Hooda, who previously led the Northern Army Command that oversees India’s borders with Pakistan and China.
Hooda, who was speaking at a webinar organised by the New Delhi-based Institute for Chinese Studies on Wednesday, said one option to ease current tensions was to have a moratorium on patrolling in contested areas, as had been done in the past.

But what complicated the current talks was that there was seemingly no cause for Chinese “violence” this time, said Hooda. Soldiers from both sides have been injured from fist fights and stone-throwing.

Previous standoffs had been sparked by disagreements over the building of border infrastructure, among other things.

“We were absolutely clear [then] of the red lines and demands of two sides. One wanted to build, the other said no. Therefore, we knew the steps towards resolution. I am not sure we know that in this case,” said Hooda, warning of a protracted stand-off.

Advertisement
Neither side has formally spoken about the origins of the standoff that began about a month ago but analysts speculated that China’s decision to amass troops at the border could have been fuelled by a combination of factors. This would include India’s move to impose direct federal rule on the Kashmir region last year, and its recent completion of a road and bridge close to the LAC as part of an infrastructure programme.
Advertisement