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China-India relations
OpinionLetters

Letters | China-India border: why not set up a special economic buffer zone?

  • Readers discuss how to resolve the knotty issue of the China-India border, and the portrayal of China in the Western media

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Tourists drive along a road in 2021 on their way to Chumi Gyatse Falls in the Himalayan region that India calls the state of Arunachal Pradesh, much of which is also claimed by China. Photo: AFP
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The quarrels between China and India erupted into war in 1962, less than two decades after India gained independence from the British and China declared in 1949 that the “Chinese people have stood up”. The geopolitical situation is different today, with new blocs and alliances, but no less intense.

The bone of contention between China and India is the demarcation of their shared border – a legacy of history from the time the British left the Indian subcontinent, which is further complicated by India’s hosting of the Dalai Lama.

But going further back, China and India have in the past had many fruitful cultural exchanges. India was the cradle of Buddhism, which has had a profound impact on China for centuries.

How to untie their Gordian knot today? To borrow the wisdom of King Solomon’s judgment in the Bible, we may imagine the troubled piece of land as the baby and China and India as the two women.

However, the United Nations, invited to be King Solomon, would not need to cut the land in two. Rather, the UN as trustee could create a special economic zone between the two countries to be used as a buffer zone. It would not only foster economic cooperation between them, but also understanding and reconciliation.

This arrangement can reduce the risk of war; in war, there are no winners.

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