India was so intimidated it capitulated without even a fight!
India, China stand-off in Ladakh ends but at what cost to India? - Firstpost
This begs the obvious question: what exactly did India “give” to secure the pullout of Chinese troops from what was notionally Indian territory? If, as the Defence Ministry claims, the Chinese troops were in Indian territory, why was there a need to “give” anything in the first place – when the only “wrong” that needed to be remedied was the Chinese provocation?
Since the Chinese side had demanded the demolition of some forward shelter posts put up by the Indian side close to the border, and the de-activation of the advanced landing facility in the region, it gives reason to wonder if these were among the “conditions” that India has yielded ground on.
If that is the case – and this remains to be validated – India may have yielded to Chinese rights to determine what happens even on what India considers its territory. This amounts to a significant change from the status quo as has prevailed since the 1962 war between the two sides. And particularly in recent years, China has ramped up its road-building and infrastructure development on its side of the fence, in a manner that dramatically alters its ability to mobilise its troops in the unlikely event of a conflict. For India to put its own “development’ activities of a similar nature on hold as the price for securing the pullout of Chinese troops – from notionally Indian territory – amounts to ‘rewarding’ China for its provocation.
To that extent, while the de-escalation of the tension between Indian and Chinese troops in the Ladakh region gives cause for relief, the government ought to come clean on the price it paid – if it did at all – to secure that relief. It should simultaneously give consideration to the prospect of averting similar Chinese adventurism along the border. If the past 20 days hold any lesson at all, it is that Chinese intentions aren’t always benign, and far from yielding cravenly to every provocation, the Indian side ought to get real about protecting its territorial and other interests in what is admittedly India’s most complex and challenging relationship.
