Hyderabad: Beijing can never be trusted when it comes to the India-China border dispute as they have never produced maps stating their official position. This was almost a collective opinion of the participants during a discussion on ‘Genesis to Present’ at the Guruswamy Centre here on Saturday.
Major General (Retd.) Jaishankar, a former defence attache to China, said, “Statements like no land has been given up by Prime Minister Narendra Modi are irrelevant and meaningless as there is no defined border, as such. The foreign secretary himself clarified that as per the latest agreement on October 21, the other areas have not been reopened. While it is good that there is no dispute about Depsang and Demchok, the other three areas Galwan, Gogra hot springs and Pangong lake have not been reopened. Peace has to be ensured.”
Going further, he said, “The confrontation with China has to be managed as we are no match with them. We spend very less compared to what they do. They have a policy of advancing forward and then when confronted they come up with something like maintaining the status quo. This is the reason they don’t even share their map with us.”
Explaining the practical difficulties and what caused Galwan casualties, he explains, “No technology works in the area and things have to be done on the ground. While we did not hold drills during Covid, the Chinese proceeded and occupied the positions they wanted resulting in confrontation.”
Most speakers, while digging into history, explained that while India’s claims of territories could be weak, the Chinese claims are weaker.
On border patrols, Jaishankar said that round-the-clock border management in the Aksai Chin area is difficult as the vehicles don’t run because diesel freezes at -5 degrees and the temperature there can fall to -15 degrees centigrade.
“We cannot trust the Americans for inputs on the border even if we have agreements with them,” he said.
Mohan Guruswamy, commentator and expert on China, said, “Any confrontation with them would inevitably be air warfare. Whether we are ready for that kind of war has to be seen. We spend 1.7 per cent of our GDP on military when the need is to spend up to eight percent on defence. Our main airfields like Tezpur, Guwahati, Bagdogra, Jorhat and Chabua can be reached by Sukhois in two hours. China, Japan and USA are great trading partners though they dislike each other. Are we right in cozying up with the USA remains an inexplicable issue.”
