Opinion | For India, diplomacy with China flows through the barrel of a gun

New Delhi is staging a massive military exercise near the Chinese border, just as Xi and Modi prepare for their second informal summit

This is no coincidence – as history shows, Sino-Indian military muscle-flexing is a standard feature before diplomatic engagements

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Indian Army personnel keep watch at the Sino-Indian border in Arunachal Pradesh. Photo: AFP

Published: 6:00pm, 10 Oct 2019Updated: 6:00pm, 10 Oct 2019

As Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi prepare for their second informal summit in the southeastern coastal town of Mamallapuram this weekend, the Indian Army has begun a massive military exercise 100km from the Line of Actual Control (LAC) – the de facto border between India and China – in India’s northeast.

Code-named “Him Vijay”, this multiphase exercise will test the battle-readiness of the Indian Army’s newly minted Mountain Strike Corps (MSC) at an altitude of 4,572 metres. The MSC, which has been raised since 2013, is a dedicated quick reaction and counteroffensive force to deal with military contingencies across the Sino-Indian border.

Though New Delhi has categorically denied any links between the military exercise and the visit of the Chinese president, its timing is no coincidence. Delhi intends to communicate that it is fully prepared to meet any military pressure on the border. Indeed, Sino-Indian muscle-flexing on the LAC has become a standard feature before any high-level diplomatic engagement between the two sides.

In April 2013, before the Indian foreign minister visited Beijing, the Indian Army and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) engaged in a major stand-off near Daulat Beg Oldi, on the disputed border. In September 2014, when Xi visited India, Chinese and Indian forces were again deadlocked over the construction of a road by the PLA inside Indian territory near Demchok.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are set to hold their second informal summit. Photo: AFP

The most explosive incident, however, was the 2017 stand-off between the Indian Army and the PLA at Doklam, the trijunction between India, China, and Bhutan. Troops from either side physically jostled with each other as Indian soldiers formed a human chain to stop the PLA from constructing an all-weather road in the disputed area.

This eyeball-to-eyeball encounter lasted for more than two months and required some high-level crisis management. It almost scuttled Modi’s attendance at the August 2017 BRICS summit in Beijing.