China and India are scheduled to hold a new round of military talks over border issues on Wednesday, for which China hopes the two sides will work together to ease the situation despite the failure of the previous round of talks.
Even if the two countries failed to reach an agreement three months ago due to India’s unreasonable and unrealistic demands, the upcoming meeting is expected to yield a better result, as the two countries have found more common interests, Chinese experts said Tuesday.
According to the arrangement by both sides, China and India will hold the 14th round of corps commander-level meeting on the Chinese side of the Moldo meeting point on Wednesday, Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, announced at a routine press conference on Tuesday.
The current situation along the China-India border is generally stable, and the two countries are keeping dialogues and communications open through diplomatic and military channels, Wang said.
“We hope that India can meet China half way, and push forward the border situation to switch from a status of emergency handling to a phase of routine management,” Wang said.
The upcoming 14th round of meeting, the first in 2022, comes after the failed 13th round which was held in October 2021, when India insisted on unreasonable and unrealistic demands.
On the occasion of New Year 2022, the Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army exchanged greetings and sweets along the Line of Actual Control in a bid to defuse the 20-month-long military confrontation ahead of the 14th round of talks, the Times of India reported on January 2.
The 14th round is expected to yield a better result compared with the last time, Qian Feng, director of the research department at the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
The two countries recently displayed many common interests, Qian said, noting that an example is the joint communiqué released after the 18th meeting of the foreign ministers of China, Russia and India on November 26, in which the ministers reached consensus on a broad range of international issues, including expressing support for the Beijing Winter Olympic Games.
India also enjoyed a record-breaking year of economic and trade cooperation with China, Qian pointed out.
However, it could still take some time to completely resolve the standoff, so routine management is needed, Qian said.
Prior to the China-India border meeting, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday that the US is closely monitoring the China-India border issue, and the US is concerned with China’s “attempt to intimidate its neighbors,” Indian media reported on Tuesday.
The US is the last one to wish for a peaceful resolution to the China-India border issue, because the US thinks it can benefit the most from it, Chinese experts said, noting that the US wants to use India to pin China down from the southwest and hype the “China threat theory.”
India should realize this and not become a pawn of the US, experts said.
Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said on Monday that he tested positive for COVID-19, and analysts said this exposed the huge impact the coronavirus has on the Indian people and troops, and India should focus more on fighting the pandemic, instead of confronting China.
Chinese soldiers guard a China-India border crossing at Nathu La Pass. Photo:VCG
