The one way Beijing and New Delhi could resolve border issues
- Reciprocal recognition of ‘one China’ and ‘one India’ would also work greatly in Beijing’s favour against Washington’s new cold war in the Asia-Pacific
Sixty years ago, communist China fought the last war that it unequivocally won. (In the 1979 war between Vietnam and China, both sides claimed to be victorious.)
But the victory over Jawaharlal Nehru’s India was pyrrhic. It created more border issues than solving them, primarily because Beijing failed to take away the useful lessons. The border disputes on the Himalayas linger on till this day, at a time when China could really use a friend in Asia. You only have to read the commentaries of Indian nationalists to see that they are still really mad about it.
The brief 1962 war coincided with the last phase of the Cuban missile crisis, on which the world’s attention was focused. That worked decisively to Mao Zedong’s advantage, as Nehru tried to internationalise the conflict to no avail.
Today, people are again talking about the Cuban crisis because the United States is prosecuting a proxy war in Ukraine against Russia, its old nuclear-armed adversary. But for the Indo-Pacific, the 1962 war and its contemporary relevance may be even more decisive to the future of the region.
Pundits today have taken to calling India the “swing state”. It could tilt towards Russia, the United States and China. At the moment, it is playing all sides, and has made no bones about it.
How to win India over or at least not lose it to the US? Well, look deep within!
China likes to praise the Nixon-Kissinger team for switching diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to mainland China, and is happy to call anyone who openly acknowledges the one-China policy as a friend. India sees things in a similar way with its one-India policy over Kashmir.
In August, China’s ambassador to India, Sun Weidong, called on New Delhi to support the one-China policy by stating that it is the foundation of Beijing’s relations with all countries. But it’s hard to see why India should stick its neck out over the Taiwanese island at this sensitive time when China has been equivocal, sometimes even hostile, over the status of Kashmir while consistently siding with Pakistan.
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In the context of the US’ Indo-Pacific strategy to contain China, India is clearly more important than Pakistan so far as Beijing is concerned. But “one India” and the border disputes stand in the way of good neighbourly relations. Tilting away from Pakistan and towards India over Kashmir is nothing compared to the US’ switch to “one China” under Nixon and Kissinger.
The Ladakh-Aksai Chin plains, which have been integral to the border disputes since the 1962 war, are part of the larger Kashmir. India declared Ladakh as part of its union in 2019 as part of its reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir. An active and sincere diplomatic push by the Chinese for a resolution of the Kashmir and Ladakh-Aksai Chin statuses will go a long way towards recognising one India. In return, New Delhi can unequivocally acknowledge one China.
It’s curious how 60 years of negotiations with periodic flare-ups – the last involved deadly brawls between soldiers of the two nations’ armies in 2020 – have been mostly fruitless in drawing the precise location of their shared Himalayan borders.
The reciprocal recognition of one China and one India would resolve most border issues that have been a long-standing irritant in the relationship between the two countries and will work greatly in Beijing’s favour against Washington’s new cold war in the Asia-Pacific.
