'At critical moments an inability to take tough decisions resulted in potentially far-reaching solutions slipping out of our grasp.' 'If similar opportunities come Narendra Modi's way will he act differently?' asks Karan Thapar.
'China is playing the big global game.' 'Their ambitions lie far beyond the Line of Actual Control.'
Amidst reports of Chinese incursions, the Peoples Liberation Army and the Indian Army on Sunday decided to uphold treaties and agreements signed between the governments of the two sides to maintain peace and tranquility along the Line of Actual Control.
The reasons for China's negative response are located in its territorial dispute with India but also to its grand designs of dominating the region from its previous position of being merely a "balancer" between India and Pakistan, points out Srikanth Kondapalli, Professor in Chinese Studies at JNU.
After the Ladakh fiasco where Xi Jinping did not expect the Indian Army to resist his land-grabbing tactics, he has to save face before his colleagues in the Communist party.' To bring the threat of a mega-dam to the northern Indian border is a clever move, observes Claude Arpi.
The Indians felt that if they acceded to Chinese claims in Ladakh, Beijing would simply be emboldened to press for further concessions in the future. A revealing excerpt from India And The Cold War.
'They know that India is no pushover.' 'We have to be extremely vigilant, remain ready and keep strengthening our positions.' 'We have to be militarily strong, whatever be the cost.'
'The numbers of troops on both sides are enormous.' 'They are about 50,000-60,000 soldiers facing each other in that sector -- that's about the total number of troops that both sides had in the 1962 War in all sectors.'
Lieutenant General Harinder Singh, who commands the 'Fire and Fury' 14 Corps, has the experience and talent to face down the Chinese challenge. The general is a rare combination of thinker and tough-minded doer, observes David Devadas.
'A participant in many rounds of the border talks with China once told me that China seemed not interested in resolving the border issue as it wanted to keep it as a ready excuse to intervene in the sub-continent,' says Colonel (retd) Anil A Athale.
'During disengagement, you don't find violence.' 'And that, too, the killing of a commanding officer.' 'This indicates that this is more serious than previous incidents.'
The Supreme Court said on Thursday the surrender of Jammu and Kashmir's sovereignty to India was "absolutely complete" with the accession of the former princely state in October 1947, and it was "really difficult" to say that Article 370 of the Constitution, which accorded special status to the erstwhile state, was permanent in nature.
International news channel Al Jazeera was on Wednesday forced to go off air in the country for five days as the government penalised it for repeatedly showing wrong maps of India.
The 17th Gyalwang Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje last week visited Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims as a part of southern Tibet.
The talks are taking place in the backdrop of China blocking at the United Nations India's move to get Jaish-e-Mohammad chief designated as international terrorist. Doval is expected to raise this issue with Yang.
'The Modi government's grandstanding has hardened the reflexes in Beijing, Islamabad and Kathmandu and complicated India's relations with these three countries, which were even otherwise highly problematic.' 'Whatever prospects existed for a fair and balanced resolution of the territorial disputes may also have receded,' observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'We have to be prepared on the borders to withstand Chinese expansionist designs.'
'All the government needs to do is to identify clear political and strategic objectives and to give the military planners a free hand,' asserts Ajai Shukla.
The answer to Chinese tactics of nibbling territory is not defence of every inch -- a military impossibility -- but instead, nibbling at Chinese territory wherever we are in a stronger position, counsels Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
China has virtually rejected Prime Minister Narendra Modi's proposal to clarify positions on the Line of Actual Control and said it prefers an agreement with India on a Code of Conduct to maintain peace along the border.
China said it was committed to peace and tranquility at the border areas.
'It is flabbergasting to think that this heavenly region has, for decades, been coveted by India's aggressive neighbours,' says Claude Arpi after a recent visit to Ladakh. 'Wanting to use the newly created infrastructure to defend the borders after the clash of 2020 with China and the resulting standoffs, the home ministry is keen to boost border tourism to show that these areas are controlled by India.'
The best, wisest, and fairest next step in strengthening our own cause is to restore statehood to Jammu & Kashmir and allow the resumption of robust political activity. That's a box that remains unchecked on the Modi government's report card as we approach the fourth anniversary of Kashmir's Constitutional shift, notes Shekhar Gupta.
India and China will hold the 18th round of border talks in Delhi from Monday - the first round of negotiations after PM Modi came to power last year.
'The unfortunate truth is that China, having exploited the initiative to seize pieces of India's claimed territory, can now hold on to its new acquisitions forever unless India chooses to eject Chinese troops by force or decides to impose tit-for-tat costs on China by symmetrically occupying other pockets in disputed territory where it possesses a tactical advantage'
16 Indian Army divisions face China, 20 face Pakistan and two divisions are reserves. This powerful signal can hardly be missed in China or Pakistan, notes Ajai Shukla.
World Bank's wrongful depiction of Indian territories as part of Pakistan and China in a map has prompted an Indian lawmaker to lodge a strong protest.
In a subtle show of strength to China, the Indian Air Force on Tuesday landed its C-130J Super Hercules transport plane at the world's highest and recently-activated Daulat Beg Oldie airstrip in Ladakh near the Line of Actual Control, the scene of a stand-off with Chinese troops in April.
'These tactics are particularly evident in China's pursuit of its territorial and maritime claims in the South and East China Seas as well as along its border with India and Bhutan'
It is apparent that an easing of tensions at the border and a disengagement of troops is on the cards, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
China has welcomed Modi remarks on border, and has said it has a 'positive attitude'.
Soldiers of the People's Liberation Army tried to enter the Indian side in two areas--Finger Four and Finger Five-- twice.
China will use airpower to support Pakistan from the start of a war. China will use the opportunity to at least take Ladakh. Its growing navy will prevent India from blockading or attacking the Makran Coast. And thanks to Chinese weapons, Pakistan keeps expanding its forces, observes Ravi Rikhye.
'Unlike the Chinese army that has been largely a peace time force, the Indian Army is a battle hardened force,' explains Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
In the fourth such incursion since March, two helicopters of the People's Liberation Army of China hovered for about five minutes in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district and "could have carried out aerial photography of Indian ground troops," according to official sources in the government.
Within the army, there is growing concern that New Delhi will allow the Chinese to retain the territory they have occupied in the last month.
The fighter plane has been untraceable since Tuesday.
The people in both places have lived in a state of denial, refusing to accept the bald fact that resorting to violence against an infinitely superior force is suicidal, observes T N Ninan.
...with extravagant claims in both the eastern and western sectors, observes Ambassador Talmiz Ahmad, as India is fixated on asserting its border claims based on the McMahon Line.
'The border stand-off and the uncertainties that come with it should be a wake-up call on what makes for real rather than illusory power,' observes T N Ninan.
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