It's been nearly a month but there is little clarity on the border standoff between Indian and Chinese soldiers in the Himalayan region of Laddakh.

Here's my take on the issue

Both countries have emphasised on the peaceful resolution but no breakthrough achieved despite multiple levels of military and diplomatic talks.

Indian media have reported that nearly 10,000 Chinese troops are on the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) – the de facto border between the two Asian nations.

The Chinese soldiers have built bunkers and moved equipment inside what India calls its part of the LAC.

As Indian defence expert Ajai Shukla told me earlier, "the motives for Chinese incursions into Indian territory are still not clear.

"It has completely come out of the blue."

A pic (not confirmed yet) of Indian soldiers detained by China is being shared on SM, but Indian army has denied its soldiers are detained.

Has Modi's China policy failed?

It seems Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's efforts to improve bilateral relations have been undone by the latest events. Modi had two high-profile informal summits with Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2018 and 2019.

An uncritical reporting of Modi’s foreign policy by Indian media seems to have been exposed. Where is the 'personal rapport' that Modi developed with Xi? What happened to the much-publicised ‘Wuhan Spirit’?

As Ajai Shukla told me: “The personal rapport I think only existed in Modi’s mind. Xi Jinping and his PLA have clearly taken the Wuhan Spirit and thrown into the dustbin with the intrusion.”

How have the Indian media reported on the issue?

India media has failed to question the government on the intelligence failure. How did so many Chinese soldiers were able to enter the Indian side?

While the ruling BJP party has been busy branding its own people "traitors and enemy" while failing to protect India's borders

Some of the Print and online media have done good and balanced reporting, but that was expected.

Electronic media’s reporting on the latest border standoff has surprisingly been less jingoistic and measured. Think if Pakistani soldiers had crossed into the LoC?

Let’s take a look at some facts regarding India-China border

Most of the 3,488km of India-China border are disputed, with New Delhi claiming about 38,000 sq km under Chinese control while Beijing claims as much as 90,000 sq km under Indian control.

China claims whole of Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. It also refuses to recognise the McMahon Line that demarcates Chinese Tibet and Arunachal Pradesh.

But in the late 1980s, the two countries decided to improve their economic ties and subsequently signed border pact in 1993 and confidence building measures in 1996 and 2006. Border deals largely kept peace at the border.

Bilateral trade went from $200m in 1990 to $92bn in 2020

How China leapt ahead of India

In the late 1980s, GDP as well as defence budgets of India and China were almost at the same level. The two Asian countries were near equals on the world stage except Beijing having attained a vote at the UN top body

GDP in 1980s:
India $297bn; China $312bn
Defence budget: India $10.6bn & China $11.4bn

30 years later, China’s GDP grew to $13.6 trillion, which is 5 times of India’s $2.7 trillion
While China’s defence budget rose to $271bn, which is abt 4 times that of India $71bn - WB data

The rise of the Hindu far-right and social strife

From late 1980s onwards, China started to improve its infrastructure, boost exports, build new cities, raise the standard of living of its people, and create one of the biggest infra projects of modern times as part of BRI

During the same period, India saw rise in religious strife as the Hindu far-right expanded its presence. Modi's BJP went on a nationwide chariot rally (Rath Yatra) to build a temple for Hindu god Ram in place of the medieval era Babri Mosque.

It paid huge political dividend to Modi's BJP

The current Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the manager of the chariot that went on the length and breadth of the country leaving behind trails of deaths, mostly Muslims.

That movement culminated in the destruction of the Babri mosque in 1992. Earlier, this year the Supreme Court gave the land to those who destroyed and asked Muslims to build a mosque at a distance of 30km away to maintain “peace”.

The period between 2004-2014 saw an impressive growth (from $709bn-2 trillion) under the left-centre government led by the Congress party. But since Modi became PM in 2014, the economy has been on the downhill slope.

I wrote a piece trying to explain the issue and how borer has been at the core of the India-China issues
Link here. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/05/tense-india-china-standoff-himalayan-border-escalate-200527120501581.html