defensenews.com
Vivek Raghuvanshi
November 17, 2015
NEW DELHI — Defense-level talks held here Monday between India and China failed to make any progress on a long-standing border dispute between the two neighbors, analysts said.
China’s Gen. Fan Changlong, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People’s Republic of China, headed a 26-member delegation that held talks with the Indian side, led by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.
“This is the highest level defense delegation to visit India in the recent years. The visit signifies the enhanced defense exchanges between India and China,” according to an Indian Defence Ministry news release.
However, analysts said the meeting achieved no significant progress on the dispute, and that local border-level skirmishes could still happen at any time because there is no established framework to check these incidents, which have increased during the past two to three years.
“The Chinese are not serious about establishing any institutional apparatus to check border skirmishes as Beijing appears to be not giving any priority to reduce border-level tensions,” says Nitin Mehta, defense analyst here.
“The border between the two countries is 4,056 kilometers of area, mostly in mountainous terrain, called the Line of Actual Control, which is neither marked on the ground nor on mutually acceptable maps,” said Mehta.
China claims 92,000 square kilometers of Indian territory and the two countries fought a brief battle in 1962 over a boundary dispute that has not been resolved despite numerous negotiations.
The MoD statement offered no concrete steps to maintain a tranquil border, Mehta said.
The MoD release merely said, “They [India and China delegations] felt that two armed forces shoulder important responsibilities for maintenance of peace and tranquility and agreed to further enhance communications and exchanges between the two armed forces,” Mehta said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to China in May also failed to make any progress on the boundary dispute.
Officials here were expecting that with his huge mandate in Parliament and aggressive style of dealing with issues, Modi could make a breakthrough. But the leaders failed to agree on any mechanism to formalize the border.
In 2013, India and China inked the Border Defence Cooperation Agreement during a visit by former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Beijing, establishing a formal mechanism to improve security along the Line of Actual Control.
“However, the agreement has yet to translate into any real structural mechanism on the ground,” says Mehta.
With no breakthrough in talks, tensions will continue between the two neighbors, says Mahindra Singh, retired Indian Army major general.
“India will have to increase its fund allocations toward creating infrastructure, buying weapons and equipment for the Indo-Chinese border,” Singh said.
