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Posted by NowThis on Wednesday, July 1, 2020
China and India: how many soldiers must die before they get a border? The Galwan Valley incident shows that soldiers continue to be used as cannon fodder to make up for a decades-old political failure The two countries’ refusal to draw a line on the ground gives the lie to their grand declarations of peace ...... there is no “border” between China and India, which leads to the situation the two find themselves in today. ...... Given that China and India do not actually have a border, it is a miracle that the frontier has been fairly peaceful this long. It is a measure of the success of jointly developed patrolling techniques and protocols to maintain peace. But well thought out and rigorously implemented as they are, these are still not a substitute for an international border and the sanctity of mutual recognition and global obligations that a formal border embodies. The historical ambiguities inherent in what passes for a border are but ticking time bombs that have now begun to go off. ........ why, after nearly three quarters of a century as sovereign countries, two neighbouring nuclear-armed states do not have a border. Why two countries most fluent in the rhetoric of a rising Asia can’t sit down and draw a line on the ground. Why two countries so deservedly proud of their civilisational histories expose their soldiers to the barbarity of lynching by refusing them not only a clear line to defend, but also the permission to use modern weaponry to defend it with. ......... When these break out, they are reported as incursion or border transgression, even though they can simply be cases of troops marching up to their own perceived border line as stated in their maps. With greater infrastructure building on the LAC by the two sides, patrols have increased in recent years, and so have face-offs, given the overlapping claims. ....... The elaborate gun salutes and funeral honours for dead soldiers are a sham if states fail in the responsibility of giving a firm, unambiguous border to die for, a line whose violation by the other side automatically implies legal consequences and military retaliation. ......... Any border solution entails give and take. Both China and India will have to be prepared to give up some land they currently claim to keep what they control. ....... Many of the bestselling consumer goods in India, from cellphones to air conditioners, are Chinese products. Of the top 30 unicorn start-ups in India, 18 have Chinese investments. Indian films do a roaring business in China and Indian professionals are increasingly becoming a part of the Chinese corporate landscape. ......... It is criminal to keep putting soldiers in harm’s way with a pseudo-border in the Himalayas while doing million-dollar deals in Shanghai and Mumbai, and then to fetishise dead soldiers as martyrs. ........ In Modi and Xi, the two countries have two of their strongest leaders ever, and the best shot at settling the border and ensuring lasting peace. If China and India can’t settle the border now, it can only mean they do not want to – and should stop with the charade of trying to.
#FirstOnThePrint Video of Indian & Chinese soldiers clashing at Pangong lake in Ladakh on August 15. @manupubby pic.twitter.com/qzZvVYFfjX
— ThePrintIndia (@ThePrintIndia) August 19, 2017
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