India’s resolve in tackling China over the border dispute has widely been praised. The European think tank has admired Indian soldiers who gave a befitting response to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) during the clash on June 15 in which 20 Indian soldiers attained martyrdom.
The think tank said that post the violent June 15 Galwan Valley clashes, India has shown the confidence of standing solo against China in any future border dispute despite the United States’ offer of forming a Quad alliance against Beijing,
The European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS) in a report released on Thursday has lauded India’s firmness and resolve in the face of Chinese transgression at the LAC.
“Just like in Doklam in 2017, the firmness and resolve displayed by the Indian political and military leadership in the face of the Chinese transgressions have surprised China,” the think tank said.
This time it is not like the usual brawls between the two rísing superpowers. As China is getting greedier day by day, it is creating disturbances to neighbouring countries on all sides.
China has a reputation of backstabbing. But New India is more careful than ever. The Indian army’s morale is at all times high. The Indian army is giving strong treatment to the Chinese troops in Ladakh.
Noting India’s strategy, the report mentioned that India was in no hurry to force China. Instead, it is willing to play the waiting game and as a result, has already mounted a massive logistics and stocking exercise similar to what it does every year to retain its hold over the even more unwelcoming Siachen glacier.
New Delhi understands that the longer China continues the standoff the longer it gets to hurt China on the economic front.
The report claimed that India had shown the preparedness to present itself as strong enough to counter any serious confrontation at the border.
Earlier, the Chinese PLA attempted to capture an important peak ‘black top’ so as to monitor the Indian posts and their activities near the dormant height. But, the Indian Army thwarted the Chinese PLA’s attempt to capture the important peak after an intense face-off on the night of August 28-29 there and occupied the dormant height within its territory.
China has been trying to strengthen the bilateral relations instead of the border issue but India has been adamant that until and unless China pulls back its troops from all the areas that it had intruded into Ladakh near the LAC, India won’t engage in any empty talks.
According to EFSAS, “China has periodically been needling India at the border and routinely violating agreements reached between the two sides to maintain peace and tranquillity there, India has now been bitten enough times to realise the futility, even counter-productivity, of dealing with the border issue in isolation.”
The report also noted that US President Donald Trump offered to mediate between India and China over their raging border dispute but India has rejected this offer and maintained that it will not join the US and other countries who have been victims of China’s aggressive behavior unless pushed to the brink.
India is looking to move forward with its Non-alignment stance for the time being but if China escalates further, new developments could be seen.
