By Ranajoy Sen
Confabulations during the latest meeting between designated Indian and Chinese authorities to endeavour toward peace and stability along the Indo-Chinese border – known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC) – concluded in Beijing. This was the 24th round of talks between the respective delegations of the two Asian countries. The Indian delegation was led by Sujit Ghosh, Joint Secretary (East Asia) in the Ministry of External Affairs of the Government of India, while Hou Yanqi, Director General of the Boundary and Oceanic Affairs Department of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, led the Chinese delegation. Nevertheless, Indian hopes for palpable progress toward a resolution of the border stalemate remain elusive.
The Indo-China border was originally the border between India and sovereign Tibet, and is known as the ‘McMahon Line’. In 1950, the newly established authoritarian Chinese regime, helmed by Mao Zedong, undertook a forced occupation of Tibet. The border was originally demarcated by Henry McMahon as a coherent and mutually acceptable boundary between Tibet and British-governed India in March 1914 in Delhi, as part of that year’s ‘Shimla Convention’. The Chinese government was also a signatory to that border agreement. For independent India, the ‘McMahon Line’ was an acceptable border. Subsequently, during parleys with independent India, China has repeatedly repudiated the ‘McMahon Line’. Ironically, China accepts the extension of the ‘McMahon Line’ as its border with Myanmar!
In October 2024, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Russian city of Kazan; both leaders resolved to improve ties between India and China. In August 2025, India’s National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval, and the Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, parleyed in New Delhi. Last year, Modi and Xi met again in the Chinese city of Tianjin and articulated the need for betterment in Sino-Indian relations. Notwithstanding such activities, recurring instances of hostility by China towards India have afflicted Indo-Chinese relations for the past six-and-a-half decades.
Democratic India was accorded high prestige in the comity of nations. That greatly irked and aroused jealousy from the Chinese dispensation, then led by Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou Enlai. They resolved to rake up border troubles to harry India, which culminated in the Sino-Indian border conflict in the autumn of 1962. The Indian nation was humbled; but it resolved never again to be a victim of credulity and negligence.
For almost the next two decades, relations between India and China remained frozen and marred by mistrust, suspicion, and hostility. The intimations of a new beginning were visible when the then Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, met former Chinese Prime Minister, Hua Guofeng, in Belgrade in 1980. Thereafter, the India-China dialogue was re-launched. In 1993, former Indian Prime Minister, P.V. Narasimha Rao, initiated a watershed “Border Peace and Tranquility Agreement” with former Chinese President Jiang Zemin. That made it officially binding to keep the peace along the LAC. Subsequently, for the next three decades, talks between India and China have been held within this mechanism, with adjustments as required.
Today, Indian defence capabilities have improved vastly. Indian troops are exceptionally able and battle-hardened. China has also substantially upgraded, expanded, and modernized its defence capabilities. China realizes that its forces might not win a conventional war with India. Therefore, it may continue to try to pressurize India through other unethical methods. Creating a persistent stalemate interspersed with intermittent disturbances on the border, while making glaring claims behind a smokescreen of unremitting border talks, appears to be an entrenched Chinese tactic against India.
India would certainly display sufficient grit and determination while continuing requisite dialogues with China. That is bound to ultimately benefit India.
The writer is an expert on international affairs. Views are personal.