TIME and again it has proved to be the case that when cartographers for the old imperialist powers drew the borders of their far-off colonial possessions around the world, they might as well have been using blood rather than ink. The post-colonial carnage, not least in Africa, that has resulted from imperial borders that sliced carelessly through ethnic communities has been horrific.
In 1890, the British Raj took over the historic kingdom of Sikkim and signed an agreement with the Chinese which protected the narrow land corridor which is also bordered by Bhutan that connected India with the northern part of West Bengal state. There is a border plateau known as Doklam in India and Donglang in China which Bhutan claims but which the Chinese insist is theirs, citing the 1890 agreement with the British.
In June China began to build a road on the plateau which prompted protests from Bhutan and a military reaction from the Indians, which in turn triggered a rapid and doubtless pre-planned build up-by Chinese army units.
The standoff continued until this week with physical confrontation in the form of pushing and shoving as Delhi vowed that it would not back down and would protect Bhutan. Naturally the fact that the Chinese having a military grade road on the plateau meaning they could threaten the narrow corridor, the company-called “chicken’s neck”, has also had a lot to do with India’s firm response.
But suddenly Indian premier Narendra Modi has ordered his soldiers back and the confrontation is apparently over. Unfortunately the Chinese are not doing much to lower the tension. The Beijing-controlled media is crowing at the victory. Chinese are still laughing at a downright racist TV sketch in which Indians were mocked mercilessly. A Chinese army officer has said that the planned road-building was going ahead. And Modi is due to visit China this week. It would seem that the authorities in Beijing are not doing anything to make his trip easier.
More than any other people, the Chinese understand about loss of face. Modi was loud in his protests to the Indian public that there was no way he was going to back down in this confrontation, and now he has. The political damage he has suffered is not yet clear. When he arrives in Beijing the expectation among Indians is that he is going to protest vehemently and obtain some satisfaction from the Chinese leadership. The Chinese would do well to respond positively to Modi and indeed to work towards a lasting agreement on the disputed plateau. It might also be an opportunity for Modi to broker a settlement between Bhutan and China which have no formal diplomatic relations.
India and China are both emerging superpowers. With super-power comes super-responsibility. The bullying tactics of Soviet Russia and the United States and before them Britain and France, undermined rather than increased peace and stability. China needs to asset itself militarily to challenge US hegemony. India does not really have a similar issue. But both countries need to recognize that they have far more to gain by positive cooperation than by geopolitical maneuvering and petty squabbling. The rest of the world does not need to suffer the consequences from a whole new Cold War, this time between Indian and China.
