Opinion |  China – The Wolf in Lamb’s Clothing

Jammu, June 18: The stand-off between China and India reached to climax on Monday 15TH of June when Chinese army brutally attacked the Indian soldiers and martyred twenty including a colonel. The situation took an ugly turn when the Chinese army transgressed into Indian Territory and crossed the line of actual control in Galwan valley against all standing pacts of disengagement. Indian army also acted swiftly and in the face off some forty three Chinese soldiers were killed. In fact the action of the Chinese forces is brutal and condemnable and it amounts to stabbing India at the back and with deceit and for this the Chinese side has to pay a heavy price as the Indian people and the government is in grief and anger and they have called for the boycott of the Chinese products and in this way China will have to face the music of violating the sanctity of the line of actual control. The face-off between the Chinese and Indian forces has made of the worst in the last five decades and has no parallels in the India-China relations. The Indian foreign minister S. Jaishanker has said while taking to his counterpart that the present stand-off will have very bad repercussions on Sino-Indian relations. It is very sad that the Chinese side has made incursions into Indian Territory and have objected to the construction of the road in Galwan valley. Some experts opine that India’s newfound assertiveness along the LAC in terms constructing feeder roads and supportive infrastructure may perhaps be seen as the trigger for the current standoff. The Chinese transgression many therefore be a bid to stop India from building permanent infrastructure which could potentially give India a strategic advantage. This argument has baffled some security analysis in India as the troop build up by China along the LAC started when the most of the Indian roads and feeder roads construction near those points was said to have reached near completion. The chances of China having missed this construction and being caught unaware are slim as China boasts fairly robust reconnaissance (both ground and space-based) capabilities. Moreover, the road and infrastructure development by both sides along the LAC to shore up their respective strategic positions has continued for many years. These have led to minor skirmishes but rarely triggered a major border transgression, that too at multiple points. How unfortunate it is that when the talks to defuse the border tension was going on between the Indian and Chinese military the Chinese army has one of stabbed us at the back in one of the worst stand offs and our army jawans have given supreme sacrifice of their lives in the line of duty and prime minister of India has reacted and said that the sacrifice of the army will it will give not go in vain and he also warned China that if instigated will give a befitting reply and India is capable of securing the borders. The PM further said that there will be no compromise on the borders. Chinese army has unilaterally tried to change the status quo in the Galwan valley and the situation could have been avoided if the Chinese army had not ventured to the transgressions in the Galwan valley but the neighbouring country has decided to cross the actual line of control and this resulted in the brutal stand-off. There are reports that some forty three soldiers of the Chinese army have also been killed in the stand-off .The border conflict should not be allowed to escalate into a full scale war between the two nuclear forces .The border tension should be managed as the war is not in the interest of both the countries and sincere efforts should be made by the parties to disengage from the borders and maintain the status quo on the borders in the eastern Ladakh. The Mondays stand-off between the Chinese and Indian forces was not an ordinary one but such which has the potential of snowballing into a war if the two nuclear countries will show maturity. Our external affairs minister S. Jaishanker told his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi that the unprecedented incident at the Galwan valley will have a serious impact on bilateral relationship and asked China to take corrective steps. The Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi spoke to India’s external affairs minister and the two leaders agreed to cool down tensions on the ground as soon as possible and this is a welcome development but then the Chinese foreign minister could not be believed given the track record of the violations on the borders and the transgressions in the past. Let’s hope that the matter of this border conflict be resolved peacefully through dialogue and diplomatic ties.