In the past fortnight, we have had the bizarre spectacle of 50 odd Chinese soldiers crossing the line of Actual Control, entering more than 15 kilometres deep into Indian territory in the ladakh sector, and brazenly staying put there.
Even more bizarre has been the insipid response of the Government of India to the incursion. Union Minister for External Affairs Salman Khurshid has called the incident an “acne” that will go away with application of an “ointment”. He has trivialised the matter by saying that such developments are a part of “growing up”.
The foreign policy of a Government — as its policies on defence, economy and internal security — reflects the regime's firmness of resolve and its belief that under any circumstances, the country's dignity must not be compromised with. Given that the Congress-led UPA Government has long abandoned to govern, let alone govern in a determined fashion, the official response to Beijing's provocation should not come as a surprise. The UPA regime is not interested in maintaining India's stature but only in ensuring that it somehow completes its remaining term. All its energies are targeted in that direction. Tough Governments take tough measures, and spineless regimes cringe and crawl. The tragedy is not that the ruling combine has been shamed by this episode; it is that the country's honour and prestige has been severely compromised.
Because of the Government's pusillanimous approach, the Indian Army is unable to take the kind of measures it ought to be taking in such situations. The best that the Army has been allowed to do is to place its soldiers right across the Chinese position some 400 metres away, and stare at them. Perhaps New Delhi believes that we can, if nothing else, win at the staring game and make the Chinese blink. The Army has no orders to take action of any kind — so much so that our soldiers have been asked to even allow the flow of supplies that are coming from across the border to the Chinese soldiers.
The Government wants us to believe that there is little that it can do in the given circumstances, except organise flag meetings at the military level and speak politely to the new Chinese leadership so that it sees reason. Khurshid has placed great hope on the “existing joint mechanism” that will enable China and India to resolve the issue. He must remember that, despite this ‘existing joint mechanism', Chinese troops have pitched their tent deep inside Indian territory. Also, despite the ‘existing joint mechanism', the People's liberation Army of China has on several occasions in the recent past intruded into India, etched its presence on rocks and left mementos, and then departed. Perhaps New Delhi fondly believed that the Chinese would behave in a similar obliging fashion this time around too. After all, we seem to have got accustomed to the incursions by our neighbour. That is why the Government initially downplayed the incident, but then put up a façade of action after the media highlighted the intrusion.
The ‘what really can we do' exasperation and ‘let tempers cool down; we must not over-react' dovish approach have not worked in the past, and they never will. China is essentially a bully, and a bully does not understand the language of reason; it understands the language of assertion. Smaller countries such as Japan and Vietnam have used that tactic with success with Beijing. But New Delhi under the UPA regime simply cannot muster the courage.
Ideally, of course, the Government should have directed the Indian Army to secure the region that the Chinese troops have occupied in Daulat Beg Oldie in ladakh. It is inconceivable that a country should allow uninvited foreign soldiers to camp in its territory, more so when a border dispute is on with the latter's nation. The first response to the crisis should have been a military one, with Indian soldiers asking the intruders to vacate, and if the latter did not comply, use force to get them out or take them into custody. This would not have been an extreme reaction, as some would argue, but the very first step to resolve the matter. Dialogue could have come into play thereafter. Instead, we are now seeking a diplomatic solution from a position of weakness. If the Chinese eventually vacate, be sure that they will do so on their own terms, part of which is the humiliation of India in the eyes of the world.
There are other things that the Government could have initiated after realising that the Chinese troops were in no hurry to go away. First, it should have called off Khurshid's scheduled visit to China as a mark of protest. New Delhi could have even made it known that Chinese Premier li Keqiang, who is due to visit India, was not welcome here if the intruders didn't quit. It could have announced a downscaling of bilateral trade; since we have a huge trade deficit with that country, New Delhi's decision to buy less or even hold back major purchases until the troops withdrew and China gave an assurance that it will strictly stick to the status quo while working to resolve the border row, would have pinched that country. Khurshid has said that India is no “pushover”. Of course, the country's isn't. But his Government is indeed a pushover.
What we are seeing is the UPA regime's tremendous desire to placate and patronise Beijing, and be on the defensive, almost as if Indian soldiers have trespassed into Chinese region. So, Khurshid's visit to China will take place as scheduled; Mr li is most welcome to India — in fact, New Delhi looks forward to the trip as it will ‘further strengthen bilateral ties', not to mention give a fillip to the much talked about but thoroughly discredited ‘existing joint mechanism'. The Government is willing to forgive and forget. It has forgiven and forgotten the episode of stapled visas which Beijing issued to Indian officials from Jammu & Kashmir because China believes that the State is ‘disputed' territory. It has forgiven and forgotten the many intrusions by the Chinese military in recent years; it has forgiven and forgotten Beijing for stationing troops in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir. Above all, it has forgiven and forgotten the neighbour for the latter's breach of faith and invasion in 1962.
When lessons are not learned, they are repeated. Jawaharlal Nehru plunged into gloom and despair after China's betrayal, and he admitted in later moments that he had been taken for a ride. But the damage to the country's prestige and the Army's morale had been done. Nobody is talking of a full-scale war with China today. But the wounds that Beijing continues to repeatedly inflict on India can have consequences as serious as they did half a century ago.