The ongoing Sino–India border dispute directly affects the efforts by Xi and Putin to create a new world order, some analysts say.
New Delhi and Beijing have reached an agreement on patrolling the contested border in the remote Himalayan region, India’s top diplomat said on Oct. 21.
Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri announced the new agreement during a special press conference on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s upcoming trip to the BRICS summit.
Misri said Indian and Chinese diplomatic and military representatives engaged in numerous dialogues over the past few weeks.
“As a result of these discussions, an agreement has been arrived at on patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control in the India–China border areas, leading to disengagement and a resolution of the issues that had arisen in these areas in 2020,” Misri told reporters, without offering further details.
At the time of publication, there has been no comment from Beijing regarding Misri’s announcement.
The border dispute between India and China has persisted for more than half a century, with tensions flaring into armed conflict in 1962 when Mao Zedong, the founding leader of the Chinese communist regime, annexed Indian territory and built a highway known as G219.
Tensions escalated significantly four years ago when clashes erupted in eastern Ladakh along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), resulting in the deaths of at least 20 Indian soldiers. The Chinese regime has not provided official figures regarding its own casualties.
Despite nearly two dozen rounds of military commander talks and other high-level engagements aimed at easing tensions, both sides have fortified their footprint along the 2,100-mile-long contested border, with little sign of abatement.
China, in particular, has built civilian and military infrastructure along the hotly disputed borderline.
In 2021, Beijing adopted a new law to specify how it governs the land border it shares with India and 13 other neighboring countries. The law stipulates that Beijing shall take effective measures to “resolutely defend territorial sovereignty and land border security,” triggering concerns in New Delhi.The new agreement was announced as Modi is heading to the Russian city of Kazan, where he will join the BRICS leaders from emerging economies, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Modi is widely expected to have a face-to-face meeting with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS summit, although Beijing and New Delhi have not confirmed this plan.
Speaking about Modi’s schedule on Oct. 21, Misri wouldn’t comment on whether the Indian prime minister will meet with Xi.
“There are a number of requests for bilateral meetings. And we will update you on the bilaterals as they evolve, as soon as feasible,” Misri said.
During last year’s BRICS summit in Johannesburg, the leaders of the two nuclear-armed neighbors held talks in which Modi highlighted his concerns about border issues along the LAC, according to India’s foreign secretary.
According to the Chinese account of the meeting, Xi told Modi that the two sides should “bear in mind the overall interests of their bilateral relations and handle properly the border issue so as to jointly safeguard peace and tranquility in the border region.”
Some analysts have pointed out that the India–China dispute could affect the CCP leader’s ambition to challenge the West and create a new world order with Putin’s help.
“Beijing understands that the ongoing China–India border conflict directly affects the efforts of Mr. Putin and Mr. Xi to build a new world order,” said Zhang Junhua, a senior researcher at the Brussel-based European Institute for Asian Studies, in a report published on GIS on Oct. 21.
“Due to tensions from an aggressive, expansionist China, India, while still maintaining military neutrality and friendship with Moscow, has been moving closer to Western nations” through its security cooperation with the United States, Australia, and Japan via a regional partnership known as the QUAD.
India and China are among the founding members of the BRICS group, named after the initial letters of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. This year, the group expanded to include Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates.
The upcoming BRICS summit, set to commence on Oct. 22, will gather leaders from 22 countries, along with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Moscow confirmed on Oct. 21.