CHINA RAISES DOKLAM ISSUE AHEAD OF KEY BORDER TALKS WITH INDIA BEGINNING ON FRIDAY
Ahead of parleys, neighbour says lessons should be learnt from Doklam
BEIJING:
Indiaand China will hold another round of boundary talks in New Delhi on Friday, in the first parleys under the special representative mechanism since the 73-day Doklam standoff.
Crisis management at the border, operational is in ga hotline between the militaries and continuing discussions on clarifying the line of actual control (LAC) could be in focus when Chinese and Indian diploma ts meet for the 20th round of SR-level talks.
State councillor Yang Jiechi will lead a team of diplomats to New Delhi to meet his designated counterpart, India’s national security advisor AK Do val .“The SR meeting is not only a highlevel channel for the border issue discussion but also the platform for strategic communication. This also allows the two sides to exchange views on the international and regional issues of major concern ,” Chinese foreign ministry spoke sp er sonHua Ch unying said on Tuesday.
China and India institutionalised the SR mechanism in 2003, envisaging it as a three-step process. New Delhi and Beijing reached an agreement on guiding principles and setting political parameters for a settlement in 2005.Thetwoneighboursarenow negotiating the second phase of working out a settlement framework, and the final step will be drawing a border line based on the framework agreement.
The73-daymilitarystandoffat Doklam(Donglang)neartheSikkim border earlier this year will remain a big reference point at the discussion.That’s despite the fact that foreign minister Wang Yihadadetaileddiscussionabout itearlierthismonthinNewDelhi with external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj.
“In2017, China-Indiarelations havemaintainedagoodmomentum generally but the Doklam incidentposedamajortestforthe two countries. We should learn lessons from this incident to avoid any further conflict of this kind in the future,” Hua said.
She added: “We should follow ourhistoricalconventionsonthe border to uphold the tranquility andpeaceintheborderregionas wellassafeguardofthelargerpicture of the India-China relations.” The talks in New Delhi this week will continue from the 10throundoftheWorkingMechanismforConsultationandCoordination on India-China Border Affairs(WMCC),initiatedin 2012 to maintain peace along the border,heldinBeijinginNovember.
Post-Donglang,discussionson bordercouldtakeatwo-pronged approach,HuShisheng,director of the Institute of South and Southeast Asian and Oceania Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said.
“In the settled sections, especiallyintheSikkimsectionwhere theborderhasnodispute,wecan promote physical connect, people’s interactions and trade and engagement. In the unsettled areas,crisismanagementisvery, veryimportant.Itisunrealisticto expect a settlement in the near future, so crisis management is important,” Hu said.
During and after Doklam standoff, China had maintained thattheSikkimsectionoftheborder has been settled under the 1890 agreement between British India and China’s Qing dynasty.
“The bilateral ties after the Donglang standoff are in critical juncture.Ifbothsidesdon’tmake further efforts, bilateral ties will further go down,” Hu said.
LanJianxue,expertonIndiaat the China Institute of International Studies, agreed. “China and India relations are in a critical time now, very difficult time rightnow.ButIthinkit(thetalks) provide an opportunity for both sides to talk to each other and to defuse the intense atmosphere between the two countries, ease the atmosphere,” Lan said.