Chinese analyst credits effective communication for quick resolution of India, China standoffs

File image: Indian Army soldiers guarding the border

Indian and Chinese soldiers were involved in separate clashes on May 5 in Eastern Ladakh and on May 9 in Sikkim but the troops disengaged after dialogue and interaction at the local level, army sources said.

Qian Feng, director of the research department at the National Strategy Institute of Tsinghua University in Beijing, told the Global Times that recent incidents demonstrate that such problems can be resolved locally without escalating it to the national level.

The face-off was reminder that these reoccurring minor issues may not have hurt China-India relations but they may in the future, Qian said. "So we need to find opportunities and work out a fair and reasonable resolution to the border issue as soon as possible," he said.

The face-offs occur because the boundary along the 3,448-km Line of Actual Control (LAC) is not marked, sources told The Hindu, adding that such an incident occurred after a long time.

In September 2019, both sides were involved in a scuffle but the matter was resolved in a few hours after a delegation-level meeting.

Indian Army chief Gen Manoj Naravane, in January 2020, said after the Wuhan summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in April 2018, differences over the border were being settled at the lowest level. Following the “strategic guidelines”, small differences are “sorted out locally and not allowed to escalate”, he said.

India and China have reportedly increased patrolling along the border region after the Doklam incident in 2017.