China has continued to harden its positions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with India, US Defence Secretary Lloyd J Austin said Saturday, days after a top US Army general expressed alarm over Beijing's border infrastructure build-up. India claims that the border problems and normal relations cannot go hand-in-hand, and since China initiated and escalated the crisis, the onus of achieving the April 2020 status quo ante is on the People's Republic of China (PRC). In contrast, China claims that the border dispute and bilateral relations should be viewed separately, and the former shouldn't disturb or impact the latter. In recent years, China's policy approach toward India has looked confused. This confusion stems from China's genuine desire to maintain stable relations with India – in order to maintain peace and stability in its primary strategic military direction (Taiwan and the US), benefit from bilateral trade, and gain access to India's market. But there is also rising hostility with India due to its increasing closeness to the United States – which China believes is a part of the US strategy of containment. These contradictory beliefs have pulled China's India policy in opposite directions, making it look confusing. The India-China relationship has been through a crisis in 2020. The June 15th incident in the Galwan Valley, which claimed the lives of 20 Indian soldiers, and subsequent firing incidents, the first bloodshed in 45 years, followed an unprecedented build-up of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). In eastern Ladakh, the PLA moved forward into areas previously under Indian control, and has been preventing Indian patrols from accessing patrol points that they consistently visited in the past in Depsang, Hot Springs-Gogra-Kongkala, near the Galwan river and around Pangong Tso. This book provides deep insight to various dimensions of issues relating to the subject.
About the Author:
Dr. Mukesh Kumar Singh, did his B.A. (Hons.) Political Science and M.A. Political Science from Delhi University and M.Phil from Jawaharlal Nehru University is an Assistant Professor under Jiwaji University, Gwalior (M.P.) for last 15 years. He has throughout a brilliant carrier and has written a number of articles in various journals and magazines. |
