Opinion | China learns in border row India will not buckle over security
New Delhi succeeds in securing the status quo on the border after military standoff ends, leaving both nations eyeing each other warily, writes Ankit Panda
The months-long border standoff between China and India on the Doklam plateau, an obscure patch of disputed land near Bhutan in the Himalayas, came to a sudden close in the final days of August – days before Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Xiamen BRICS nations summit.
Weeks of behind-the-scenes diplomatic effort succeeded in defusing what once appeared to be a high-stakes and intractable crisis.
The Indian and Chinese foreign ministries released statements on Monday acknowledging a drawdown. While each country’s statement about the details of the end to the standoff varied in emphasis, there was no apparent contradiction.
India highlighted an “understanding” between the two sides that led to the “expeditious disengagement of border personnel at the face-off site”, just 60 odd metres from the Indian Army’s outpost on the Bhutanese border at Doka La.
Reports later confirmed that India had secured a withdrawal of Chinese troops – including construction crews – from the site of the standoff.