India-China should work out new confidence building mechanisms to ensure peace in LAC: US expert

Chennai:

The tension on Line of Actual between India and China will continue as the present confidence building mechanisms are not working and both the nations should try to work out new mechanisms, according to a US expert.

Speaking after delivering a lecture ‘The Cost of Doing Business: India’s Security ‘Protectionism’ and China, a Beijing based associate in Nuclear Policy Programme at the Carnegie Endowment Lora Saalman said that the current conflict in the India-China border could not be attributed to the change in leadership.

“I don’t think the present conflict involves the ministry of foreign affairs in China. Not everything comes from the top. It is much more of a localite issue,” said Saalman, whose research focuses on Chinese nuclear-weapon and non-proliferation policies and Sino-Indian strategic relations.

She said the new president Xi Jinping has emphasized on independent foreign policy and not swayed away by other countries. The border issue should now be looked in the basket of a larger territorial issue facing China right now.

“They are looking at South China Sea, Taiwan and other issues. And China feels that if it compromises with India on border issue, it may look weak. It will have a negative impact on its other territorial issues,” she said.

There may be also domestic compulsions with sometimes people taking a hard view over the issue and not ready to compromise with the kind of nationalism building around in China and its rural areas. She said India needs to be extremely clear about what exactly it is more concerned about China not through media speculation.

She said that Indian decisions are more based on media reports and there are no official reports from the Indian side on what they need to do about it.

Saalman also highlighted the success of China in Africa. The focus of China in Africa is purely economical and they don’t attach any political or social requirements.

She also said that China lacks expertise on Afghanistan unlike India. Although there has been concern on who will take over in Afghanistan after the United States leaves the region, she says China requires political guidance from India on the region.