Doklam standoff ends: India, China withdraw troops
Reports say China likely to stop road construction but forces will continue to patrol area
NEW DELHI/BEIJING: India said on Monday it had agreed with China to pull back troops to end a months-long face-off along a disputed Himalayan region, but there was no word on whether Beijing will stop building a road that triggered the row.
The decision put a lid on one of the most serious disputes between the nuclear-armed neighbours who share a 3,500-km mountain frontier that remains unmarked at places. It came days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi travels to China to attend a summit of BRICS — a grouping that also includes Brazil, Russia and South Africa.
New Delhi said the two sides had diplomatic exchanges in recent weeks over the situation on Doklam plateau in the eastern Himalayas.
“During these communications, we were able to express our views and convey our concerns and interests,” India’s foreign ministry said in a short statement, without giving details of the disengagement.
“On this basis, expeditious disengagement of border personnel at the face-off site at Doklam has been agreed to and is ongoing.”
Within the hour, the Chinese foreign ministry responded, saying its forces will continue to patrol Doklam — a disputed stretch between Bhutan and China — to exercise its sovereignty and uphold territorial integrity.
China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a daily news briefing that “Chinese personnel on the ground have verified” that Indian forces withdrew to their side of the border on Monday afternoon. “In the light of the changes of the situation on the ground China will make necessary adjustment and deployment,” she said.
Neither side spoke on the status of a road whose construction by Chinese troops had triggered the standoff. India says any construction in the region will violate a 2012 trilateral agreement on the border.
Later, external affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said the disengagement has since been “almost completed under verification”.
“India has always maintained that it is only through diplomatic channels that differences on such matters can be addressed. Our principled position is that agreements and understandings reached on boundary issues must be scrupulously respected”, he said.
Doklam is claimed by both Bhutan and China. India does not claim Doklam for itself but is closely allied with Bhutan, which it regards as a buffer against China. The plateau is strategically significant because it gives China access to the so-called “chicken’s neck”, a thin strip of land connecting India’s northeastern states to the rest of the country.
Trouble began in June when Chinese soldiers started to extend a road through the Doklam territory -- known as “Donglang” in Chinese. India deployed troops to stop the construction, prompting Beijing to accuse it of trespassing. It warned that the impasse could lead to a wider military confrontation. Its state-controlled media also launched an aggressive PR campaign against India.
Tensions were further inflamed when Indian and Chinese soldiers fought with stones and sticks near the Pangong lake in Ladakh sector earlier this month.
Chinese diplomacy’s favourite phrase “win-win situation” is likely to be much in use following the resolution of the two-month-long standoff between troops of the two countries at Donglang or Doklam near the Sikkim border.
Less than a week before the BRICS Summit in China, which is expected to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, some would say the resolution was timed to be a “face-saver”.
Questions were being raised in the Chinese media and by experts whether Modi would attend the summit against the backdrop of the impasse – if the PM had skipped the meet, it would have been a fairly strong blow to the grouping and an embarrassment for China.
The doubt over Modi’s visit has probably been resolved as well.
India could now say it supported a friend, Bhutan, when it needed help but decided to resolve the impasse with its most powerful neighbour, China, through diplomatic channels despite much talk of escalation.
One aspect of the standoff was the different approaches adopted by the two sides: China’s foreign ministry and official media released strong statements and opinions almost daily while India’s official statements were far fewer in number.
There were also suggestions that the aggressive Chinese posturing was a reflection of Beijing being, well, on the right side of the line.
Details of the disengagement of the troops are yet to be shared by either government.
But with the announcement from India’s external affairs ministry and China’s foreign ministry, the aggressive posturing by the Chinese state media is likely to be toned down. The talk from now on will be on “win-win” situations and cooperation between two ancient civilisations.
China will also drive home the point about “India’s withdrawal”, something Beijing had wanted from day one, after news of the standoff became public.
“China confirms India’s withdrawal of border personnel at face-off site at Doklam,” was the headline of a report by Xinhua news agency on Monday.
It was markedly different from the way MEA put it: “…expeditious disengagement of border personnel at the face-off site” in Doklam.
In the coming days, it will be interesting to see how much China’s official narrative and its media focusses on how it got it wanted – in terms of the withdrawal of Indian troops – and not on India’s decision to dig in its heels and take a tough stance on behalf of a neighbour.
INDIA COULD NOW SAY IT SUPPORTED BHUTAN WHEN IT NEEDED HELP BUT RESOLVED IMPASSE WITH CHINA THROUGH DIPLOMATIC CHANNELS DESPITE MUCH TALK OF ESCALATION