Claims and counterclaims on Chinese intrusions

Is China itching for a military conflict with India? Apparently yes, say some experts, given the recent spurt in alleged incursions into India. No, say the military and diplomatic leaderships of India, denying any change in the largely peaceful ground- level realities between the two Asian giants along their 4,056-km border.

The reasons offered by observers on why China would try to flare up the situation include diverting attention from its domestic troubles and stemming India’s aggressive infrastructure developments along the border.

Last year, India cited over 200 intrusions by the Chinese military. “They (the Chinese) too cite similar numbers,” says a senior army officer. At every flag meeting, both sides present almost equal numbers of complaints about “intrusions”.

An officer at the army headquarters says that both countries have mechanisms to claim territory. “The commonest feature is to send patrols that deliberately leave behind tell-tale marks like scrolling on rocks, and cigarette or food packets.”

On the ground, military officers say that there has been no significant change in Chinese attitude. “Over two years ago, we told them at a fairly senior level that their behaviour in the Finger Area (in north Sikkim) and other parts of the Eastern Sector was immature and they must stop sending patrols,” a senior army officer says. “They stopped for sometime, but are back.”

An army officer says that often when the Chinese patrols come in the Finger Area, Indian soldiers stop them physically but “the situation is never allowed to go out of hand”. A few months ago, a small group of Chinese military personnel drove in a jeep and “we stopped them, but that too did not get out of hand”. The only recent incident that was “unusual” was in November 2007 when Chinese troops destroyed a couple of unoccupied Indian bunkers.

A senior military officer who has dealt with the Chinese in recent years says: “If there is anything that we don’t like about their conduct is their increasingly condescending behaviour at the senior levels, probably due to China’s new global status.”

Chinese worries are more about the intense media coverage in India of the “intrusions”. At a recent flag meeting, a Chinese colonel requested his Indian counterpart to keep the media quiet, citing the quietness of the Chinese media on Indian incursions. “We told them India being a democracy, we can’t control the media.”

“Otherwise, we have a fairly robust system for maintaining peace and tranquility along the border,” says a senior army officer, referring to the Border Peace and Tranquility agreements signed with China in 1993 and 1996.