Lessons learned in tense China-India border row but it will cast a long shadow, analysts say
With the BRICS summit next week and growing economic cooperation at stake, both sides had good reason to end the stand-off
The protracted border row between China and India has ended in time for a summit of the world’s leading emerging market economies, but analysts say it will cast a long shadow over the geopolitical landscape.
Details remain sketchy of how the worst border dispute between the two countries in more than three decades was defused after both sides announced on Monday they had agreed to an “expeditious disengagement” of troops from a remote Himalayan plateau.
But experts believe both China and India had good reason to end the 70-day military face-off along an unmarked border in Doklam – which is known as Donglang in China – amid growing fears of armed conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
For Beijing, the upcoming summit of BRICS leaders – from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – in Xiamen next week, the biggest international gathering ahead of the five-yearly Communist Party national congress, appears to have provided impetus for a rapprochement with New Delhi.
“China understands the importance of creating a favourable atmosphere for the success of the summit and the all-important party congress,” said Wang Dehua, head of South Asia studies at the Shanghai Municipal Center for International Studies.