[THREAD] Depsang, 2013
Self Deception, India's China Policies by Arun Shourie
Sep. 2013
"The rulers in Delhi acted true to form - as the news could not be suppressed, they set out to minimize what the Chinese had done: 'Acne', they said, a 'localized problem', they said. 1/

Soon, the Indian foreign minister was in Beijing. He was happy as can be - he had able to call on the Chinese Prime Minister, after all. 2/ http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/incursion-acne-can-be-cured-with-ointment-says-khurshid/1107855/

Did any clarity emerge as to why Chinese troops had intruded 19 kilometres into our territory? he was asked. 'Frankly, I did not even look for it,' the foreign minister said. 3/

'How we responded is clear to us. It is not clear why it happened. They were not offering that background and we were not asking for it at this stage.' How considerate! 4/

Had China admitted the provocation? Again, the minister was empathy itself: 'You cannot expect any country to say we provoked.' 5/

Not just that - he proceeded to furnish explanations that even the Chinese had not advanced! 'It happened in a remote area,' he said. 'To get the message to government, it is a long haul. It will take time to analyse.' 6/

And he was statesman-like: 'It is not helpful at this stage to apportion blame between them and us' - so statesman-like as to be completely neutral between the arsonist and fire-fighter! 7/

Has China given any assurances that such intrusions will not occur in the future? 'I don't think it is fair to ask for assurances... We already have an agreement to address these kind of issues.' 8/

'There was appreciation of the manner in which India responded,' he told correspondents, ' and persuaded and moved in a manner that the solution was found.' 9/

Why would China not be full of appreciation? He was doing exactly what China would want: minimizing what China had done. 10/

Soon, he was giving expression to his ardent desire - that he aspired to live in China, 'though not as India's foreign minister' he added - we should be thankful for small mercies, I suppose. 11/

'Acne'? 'Localized problem'? 'Not fair'? 'Not helpful'? 'Frankly I did not even ask for it'? 'It happened in a remote area. To get the message to government, it is a long haul'? 12/

Of course, neither the Prime Minister nor the Foreign Minister mentioned that this was not just an inadvertent strolling into Indian territory. This time tents were pitched. 13/

Nor did they mention that this setting up of tents was but the latest instance of what China has been doing. 14/

It would not have been 'fair' to mention, as the foreign minister would say, that China has been steadily eating into the territory on our side of the Line of Actual Control;... 15/

Nor to mention that, further south, as Amb. Stobdan pointed out in the wake of the incursion, since 1986 they have systematically scared away Indian herdsmen from grazing lands within Indian territory, occupied pastures and built permanent structures. 16/

'Acne'? 'Localized problem'? Taken by itself, each of the usurpations was! But taken together, the unremitting advances have a pattern... 17/

... to go on pushing the Line of Actual Control, and hence 'Chinese territory' right u to the eastern banks of the Shyok and Indus rivers, and to absorb the entire Pangong lake into China. 18/

The reactions of Indian officials to these successive incursions have also been to a pattern:
1.Suppress information
2. Deny 19/

Who is misled when information is suppressed? Who is kept in the dark when what has happened is denied? Who is led to believe that nothing serious has occurred,... 20/

...that 'the situation is under control', that 'all necessary steps are being taken'? Not the Chinese - after all, they know what they have done, they know the plan of which each step is a part. 21/

The people who are lulled are the people of India. And the object of lulling them is straightforward... 22/

... not just that they should not come to think that their government has been negligent, but that they should not pressurize the government into doing anything more than what it is doing. 23/

Wait Micawber-like for something to turn up.
Wishful concentration - read into Chinese statements & maneuvers what we wish to hear & see.
Paste a motive, fling a doubt at the messenger, discredit them.
Minimize what the adversary has done.
Exculpate the govt. of the country. 24/

Manufacture explanations - sometimes these are so ingenious that even the adversary hasn't thought of them! 'You see, the real problem is that the LAC has not been demarcated on the ground'... 25/

... of course don't mention that it is China which has not let the delineation proceed by just not exchanging the maps. 26/

Take the high road. 'We are not here to satisfy the jingoism of others' said the foreign minister this time round. 27/

Whatever happens in the end, proclaim it to be 'a triumph of our diplomacy', use the media to put out that whatever happened is exactly what you planned should happen. And leave them to rush to the next story... 28/