The News
China and India reached a deal over their disputed Himalayan border to help defuse a four-year military standoff marked by violent skirmishes.
The pact between the world’s two most populous countries — in which both sides agreed to alternately patrol contested areas to ensure no border violations — came just ahead of the BRICS summit in Russia.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi may meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the conference following the success of the border talks, Indian officials said.
SIGNALS
Border deal a ‘significant breakthrough’ for China-India ties
The bilateral agreement marks a key thaw in relations between the two nuclear powers after deadly 2020 clashes along the Himalayan border that led India to seek a closer relationship with the US. Both Washington and New Delhi viewed the dispute as an example of “Beijing’s aggressive actions against its neighbors,” the South China Morning Post wrote. At the same time, New Delhi has also been cultivating closer ties with Moscow, an important ally of Beijing, The Wire noted. However, experts told the South China Morning Post that a BRICS meeting between the Indian and Chinese leaders is “not necessarily a precursor to a full-fledged bilateral detente.”
China’s softening diplomacy
China is building diplomatic bridges with several countries it has sparred with in recent years, possibly because of concerns among its leadership over its softening economy. Other than the border deal with India, Beijing has recently held conciliatory talks with Britain and softened its stance towards Japan, Pekingnology’s Zichen Wang noted. In part, we are seeing “a more cautious China that’s not looking for fights until it can get its economy back on track,” Ian Bremmer of Eurasia Group said in a note to clients. Western powers remain skeptical, though: Australia yesterday announced a $4.7-billion deal to acquire US precision missiles and “safeguard” Australians, while Washington is upgrading airfields in the Pacific and challenging Beijing’s minerals dominance.