India-China ties cannot be held hostage to boundary dispute: Former CDS

Acknowledging that China presents a long-term and comprehensive challenge to India, former CDS Anil Chauhan on Saturday said the boundary issue with the northern neighbour remains unresolved, and there's no mutually agreed definition even on the Line of Actual Control, but New Delhi's ties with Beijing "cannot be held hostage to only boundary issues."

Delivering a lecture on 'Threats and Challenges to India's Security' at an event hosted at the Teen Murti Bhawan complex here, he underlined that border stability requires "vigilance, credible capabilities, clear agreements and consistent adherence to them."

His comments come days after National Security Advisor Ajit Doval held talks in Beijing with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi focusing on delimitation of the frontier and sustaining work on trans-boundary cooperation. Held under the framework of Special Representatives dialogue, the Doval-Wang talks came weeks before Chinese President Xi Jinping’s anticipated visit to India for the upcoming BRICS summit (September 12-13).

Gen Chauhan (retd) in his address also referred to a report in Saturday's newspaper which talked about likely "establishment of hotlines", as well as "corps commander-level talks" in the Northeast, and described it as "a welcome development".

In his address, he enumerated several challenges that India faces and how it should manage them.

"As regard our northern neighbour, it presents absolutely different and more long-term and comprehensive challenge," he underlined.

"The boundary issue remains unresolved, and there's no mutually agreed definition even on Line of Actual Control. Differences in perception, combined with infrastructure development and forward military presence creates the possibility of friction and escalation," he said.

Emphasising that China and India are two major Asian powers, large economies and civilisational states, the former general officer said the relationship between the two countries cannot be held hostage to only boundary issues.

He said that since both countries cooperate and compete as well and hold differing views on regional and global order, there is a need to engage with China.

"That's what we're doing as part of SCO, and now as part of BRICS. And, the future of Asia will depend substantially on how India and China manage this simultaneous rise," he added.

In his address, he also identified instability in multiple countries in the Indian neighbourhood as a "threat," which must be managed too.