Daily Times

The Himalayan confrontation that the Indians very prudently decided to diffuse on the Chinese terms indicates that no matter how much help it expects to get from the US for fighting Washington’s proxy war against China New Delhi would resist the temptation of taking on its bigger and stronger neighbour at least at this point in time.

And considering its own current economic situation India is hardly likely to spare more than the already committed $3 billion for Afghanistan.

When the China-India Himalayan stand-off started around mid-June this year the Indian Army Chief, General BipinRawat boasted that it was ready to fight a two-and-a-half front war meaning thereby that India could successfully meet the challenges posed by Pakistan across the Line of Control (LoC),by China across its Himalayan borders and by the freedom struggle going on in the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) all at the same time.

India is losing out to China as the latter uses its economic strength in trying to create a single regional market under the One Belt, One Road initiative

He was followed immediately by his defence minister who warned China with decidedly misplaced confidence that India is not what it was in 1962 when the Chinese troops had routed the Indian Army that had trespassed the Chinese territory. In that conflict China had pushed Indian troops back into their own region and then voluntarily withdrew across theboundary line to its own area. What, however, the Indian defence minister forgot to consider was that China too was not what it was in 1962.

This realization finally dawned on India after itsthree month long eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation at Doklam (claimed by Bhutan but China has historical documents to prove it was originally Chinese territory) near what is called the ‘Chicken Neck’, a short, narrow strip of land that provides mainland India access to its northern states.

Finding that the stalemate was only eroding its domestic credibility and would expose its vulnerabilities if tested at the Himalayan heights New Delhi had meekly complied with Beijing’s suggestion and withdrew its troops from the Chinese territory.

By way of a face-saver for New Delhi Beijing offered to discuss with India the ‘dispute’ between China and Bhutan over Doklamafter the pull back and for India’s sake it also did not spell out whether or not it intended to continue with the construction of the road.

China was, however, too candid in its assessment of the development. According Beijing India pulled back all its “trespassing border personnel and equipment from Dong Lang (Doklam) region on Monday (August 28, 2017) afternoon around 2:30 p.m. local time, ending a two-month military standoff triggered by India’s illegal incursion. The Chinese personnel onsite have verified this situation.

“About two months ago, the Indian military trespass grossly encroached on China’s territorial sovereignty, and trampled on the fundamental principles of international law and basic norms governing international relations.

“Now the withdrawal of Indian troops has laid a foundation for further development of the China-India relation. It is good to see that the two countries have solved the conflict peacefully.”

“We believe that it serves the interests of China and India to resolve this incident peacefully via diplomatic means,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson HuaChunying on a daily press briefing on August 28. “It also demonstrates China’s sincerity and attitude in preserving regional peace and stability as a responsible major country,” Hua said.

“The Age of Hegemony has become history. All countries need to see that no matter who they are dealing with, the fundamental basis is mutual respect, mutual benefit, and win-win cooperation.

“We hope that India could earnestly abide by the border-related historical treaty and basic norms of international law and work with China to ensure peace and stability in the border area on the basis of mutual respect for each other’s territorial sovereignty, and to promote the healthy development of bilateral relations,” Hua told the press briefing.

On the same day, Chinese Defence Ministry spokesman Wu Qian commented on India’s withdrawal, saying, “We remind India to learn from this incident, to comply with historical border agreements effectively as well as the basic principles of international law, and work with China to maintain peace in the border region.”

A researcher in South Asian studies at the China Institute of International Studies, said India “made a wise choice” because it realized that it would harm its interests if its personnel and equipment continued to stay in Dangling.

India suspects that if China completes the road in question, it would be easier for Chinese forces to cut off the narrow strip of land that connects India’s heartland to its north eastern states in the event of a war.

India is also worried over the gains that China has recently made in other South Asian states. Most notably, in July, a state-owned Chinese firm secured a 70 percent stake in the deep-water port of Hambantota in Sri Lanka. Colombo agreed to that deal over India’s objections. India frets about China’s naval bridgehead in Sri Lanka for two compelling reasons. First, the port facility will help China extend its political influence in the country. Second, owing to the port’s strategic location, it could let China monitor Indian shipping and naval activities in the region.

China has also made inroads into Bangladesh and Nepal. In recent years, it has become the largest arms supplier to Bangladesh; last year, it sold two submarines to the country. And as India supported a tacit fuel blockade of Nepal, Beijing quickly came to its assistance, eroding India’s standing there.

In the cases of Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Pakistan China has been able to make headway largely because it can draw on far greater economic resources than India can.

Clearly, India is losing out to China in South Asia as the later using its economic strength is trying to create a single regional market to start with as it pushes wider into the world with its One Belt, One Road initiative.

On the other hand America’s global hegemony has already received a big jolt when after having egged on Georgia and Ukraine to take on Russia, Washington left the two on their own when Moscow moved in with its troops. These two losers, therefore,can hardly be expected to come up with a win in Afghanistan in the foreseeable future.

The writer is a senior journalist based in Islamabad. He served as the Executive Editor of Express Tribune until 2014

Published in Daily Times, September 2^nd 2017.