India has a China problem, but China does not have an India problem. At a time when China is resetting its economy in the face of an incipient crisis, it has also expressed the sentiment that it would like to move forward to an era of cooperation with India, towards which it is said to be also willing to settle issues on the Line of Actual Control.
In the Indian foreign minister’s view, which is based on what has taken place or not regarding de-escalation and restoring the pre-April 2020 status quo with the old patrolling routine also established, the ties are still “significantly disturbed.” Since the two countries are looking at it through different prisms, the conclusion is that perspectives are looking even more contrasted.
Having said earlier that 75 per cent of disengagement problems have been resolved in eastern Ladakh, the foreign minister brought up the crucial issue of the patrolling rights that have been curtailed since the Galwan Valley clashes. It does appear that, regardless of the more positive Chinese attitude said to have been reflected in the last military commanders’ meet, India is still chary of talking about the rest of the relationship until LAC matters are fully sorted.
A likely meeting next month between the Chinese supremo Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the BRICS summit might have been the determinant to the slight positive change that China is signalling. India’s wariness in this matter is understandable as China may have blindsided India into agreeing on disengagement and other normalisation processes in places that saw troops disengagement like Galwan Valley, Pangong Tso and Gogra Hot Springs while leaving the issue hanging at Depsang Plains and Demchok.
The ball is not so much in India’s court as China’s now since it must respond by way of a return to the normal in terms of patrolling also to show it is sincere in extending an olive branch as its envoy in India has been saying that ties are poised to improve and may extend to areas far beyond the border situation.
