Ladakh standoff: Space for diplomacy shrinking fast as India, China remain on the edge of military conflict

India wants a political key to unlock the dangerous stalemate in Ladakh, but political engagements so far have failed to produce any breakthrough. The Chinese military is absolutely determined, capable and confident in safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity.” In reply, the Indian defence minister “emphasised that the actions of the Chinese troops, including amassing of large number of troops, their aggressive behaviour and attempts to unilaterally alter the status quo were in violation of the bilateral agreements and not in keeping with the understandings reached between the Special Representatives of two sides… and while Indian troops had always taken a very responsible approach towards border management, at the same time there should also be no doubt about determination to protect sovereignty and territorial integrity.” This exchange reflects the failure of the political process where both sides refuse to budge from their respective positions or cede a modicum of space for compromise. By encroaching into, occupying and building permanent and semi-permanent structures on almost 1,000 square km of territory that India perceives to be on its side of the LAC in violation of all protocols and mechanisms, refusing to honour a consensual disengagement procedure and then getting into a murderous clash with Indian troops, Beijing has set forth a chain of events that may be reversed only if Chinese president Xi Jinping perceives the cost of continued confrontation with India to be greater than a pullback that will be perceived as a ‘setback’ and affect Xi’s ‘tough on sovereignty’ image at home. But what the Chinese found out is that the Indian negotiating position was ‘what’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is negotiable’.” Not only does this indicate that Beijing will henceforth settle the boundary issue through force instead of negotiation, but the irony also lies in the fact that after decades of salami-slicing Indian territory in disregard of established agreements and protocols, China now blames India of carrying out the tactics that Beijing has mastered. India’s statement came a few hours after China first accused India of illegally crossing the LAC and “outrageously warning shots on Chinese border patrol soldiers who were about to negotiate” Colonel Zhang Shuili, spokesperson of PLA’s Western Theater Command, called India’s actions “a serious military provocation and very vile in nature” that may “easily cause misunderstandings and misjudgments.” Negotiations?