By Sanjeev Kumar Patro

Bhubaneswar: In what is seen as a major thaw in the bilateral relationship between India and China, the two sides have agreed to a pact on military patrols along their disputed borders in the Himalayas. This vexed issue has been holding the bilateral relations hostage after the bloody battle in the Himalayas in 2020.

Addressing a presser, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said, “Over the last several weeks, Indian and Chinese diplomats and military negotiators have been in close contact with each other, and as a result of these discussions, an agreement has been arrived at on patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the India-China border leading to the disengagements and a resolution of the issues that had arisen in 2020.” 

Briefing reporters, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said the pact is aimed at the “disengagement” of troops at the Line of Actual Control that separates Chinese and Indian-held territories. The LAC stretches from Ladakh in the west to Arunachal Pradesh, on which China lays its claims. The LAC runs 3,488km (2,167 miles). 

However, Foreign Secy Misri did not spell out whether there would be withdrawal of the additional military troops stationed by the two countries in the Ladakh region, post the border agreement.

On the other hand, the Chinese Foreign Ministry has also confirmed the border agreement between the two countries. 

“China and India have reached resolutions on issues concerning the border area and China will work with India for the implementation of these resolutions,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said. However, the China foreign ministry also didn’t specify whether deal on military patrols along the frontier covered the length of the border or just hotspots that have seen clashes in 2020.

Lin Jian, a spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at a regular press conference on Tuesday that "China commends the progress made and will continue working with India for the sound implementation of these resolutions."

PM MODI’S BUSINESS CURB ON CHINESE COS PUT PRESSURE?
The Indian government’s curb on Chinese business houses in India and PM Modi’s ‘vocal for local’ campaign to curb Chinese imports seem to have played hard on the psyche of China. This becomes evident when a glance is given to an editorial and an article published in the Chinese Communist Party’s mouthpiece Global Times. The editorial and the article clearly hint at the Modi Power play. The salient pointers from the Edit of Global Times are given below.

• After bilateral relations between China and India nose-dived to a low point in June 2020, when a deadly clash in the Galwan Valley happened, New Delhi imposed bans on hundreds of Chinese apps including TikTok, and restricted Chinese investments in India.
• The Paper writes, “Despite the Indian government’s curbs targeting Chinese businesses, Sino-Indian trade continued to grow thanks to the complementary nature of the two economies." 
• The paper further writes China remains India's biggest source of goods and was its largest supplier of industrial products last year. 
• However, the editorials this big line tells it all. It wrote, “Indian imports from China have surged 56 percent since the border clash. All this points to the bright prospects of developing bilateral ties if the potential of the two major emerging economies with a combined population of more than 2.8 billion can be fully unleashed.”
• Moreover, the Paper in another article has quoted experts who also spoke about the Modi’s government’s actions against Chinese imports. 
• The Article quoting experts stated, “Since the outbreak of border frictions, which were unilaterally provoked by India in 2020, the China-India relations have been deeply affected, as the "China threat" rhetoric and nationalism and hostility against China have been hyped within India, and New Delhi has launched hostile measures and investigations against Chinese firms that operate in India and set obstacles for the people-to-people exchanges between the two countries,” 
• How Chinese policy strategists seems worried at Modi govt’s Make In India initiative can be well inferred from the way the Global Times article quoted a Reuters report published on September 11 that stated "India's push to become a factory titan has hit a snag: to become a credible alternative to China for global firms, it first needs to warm up to its long-time rival."
• How the Make in India mobile phones played up on China's psyche can well be gauged from the Global Times article which quoted an article published in the Washington Post on September 2 that stated, "As India has amped up its production of goods like smartphones, solar panels and medicine, the Indian economy itself has become even more dependent on Chinese imports, in particular for the components that go into these products, according to trade figures and economic analysts."
• Finally, came the admission.
• In the same article in Global Times, Hu Zhiyong, a research fellow with the Institute of International Relations at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences , had very clearly said, “These economic reasons, especially India's reliance on China, might be the key factors that may drive India to fix its ties with China, “

The BOTTOMLINE is when the intent of the statement made by Hu Zhiyong is scanned, the inference looks crystal clear.  Though he is trying to drive home the point that the strained business ties between the two countries put pressure on India to normalize bilateral ties with China, the real meaning is the vice versa.

TIMELINE TO BORDER DEAL 
 2020: 20 Indian soldiers and 4 Chinese troops killed in hand-to-hand combat in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh.

• New Delhi heightened scrutiny of investments from China, banned popular Chinese mobile apps and severed direct passenger air routes between the neighbours.

FEBRUARY 2022

The number of Chinese mobile apps banned by India climbed to 321 from 59 at the time of the border fracas.

DECEMBER 2022

A minor border scuffle took place in the Tawang sector of India's northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh.

AUGUST 2023

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to intensify efforts to disengage and de-escalate at a meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Johannesburg.

JUNE 2024

Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Kazakhstan. Both agreed to step up talks to resolve issues along their border

SEPTEMBER 2024

MEA S Jaishankar outlined that about 75% of the "disengagement" problems at India's border with China had been sorted out.

India's aviation minister also indicated a thaw in the standoff as he said that the two countries had discussed early resumption of direct passenger flights on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Civil Aviation in Delhi.

OCTOBER 2024

India's army chief at Chanakya Dialogues said India and China had resolved the "low hanging fruits" with regard to their shared border and now needed to address difficult situations.

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