It’s not often that America affirms India’s stand on its border dispute with China. The resolution will certainly rile China. America’s bipartisan articulation indicates a clear hardening of its stand against China but also possibly America’s willingness to insert itself into border disputes between India and China and increase India-US military cooperation. Many see the resolution as a shift in America’s position.
Is America shifting its position on the India-China border disputes?
On the surface, it may seem America is just reiterating its traditional position on the Arunachal border. For long, America has recognised the McMahon line as the legitimate international border between India and China. The first clear articulation of this position goes back to the Kennedy presidency. When tensions started building up between India and China before the war of 1962, the US decided to stay neutral on the border dispute in Arunachal Pradesh, then known as the North East Frontier Agency (NEFA).
But once the war started, then US Ambassador to India John Kenneth Galbraith forced America to shift its position in favour of India. “The McMahon Line is the accepted international border and is sanctioned by modern usage. Accordingly we regard it as the northern border of the region,” Galbraith said in a statement issued during the war. America continued to affirm India’s position on the Arunachal border.
Therefore, the recent bipartisan resolution by American senators is just a reiteration of its old stand.
Then how does it matter?
American senators may have only reaffirmed India’s position, but what matters is the articulation of its stand at this time. The resolution on the McMahon line comes when America is trying to contain China in all possible ways, from controlling export of technology, especially chip-making equipment, from the Western countries to China, to strengthening its military position in the South China Sea to prevent China’s likely invasion of Taiwan. It is busy trying to shift its supply chains away from China to friendly countries such as India.
India and China have engaged in violent border conflicts in recent times, and long-drawn negotiations to settle border disputes have yielded little so far. The US sees India as a perfect ally against China on both strategic and economic fronts. In December last year, India and the US soldiers organised a joint exercise in Uttrakhand, just 100 km from the Line of Actual Control which irked China. It said the Indo-US military exercise violated the spirit of border agreements signed by New Delhi and Beijing.
Though America says the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or the Quad, a group comprising the US, India, Australia and Japan, is not a military alliance, it is largely seen as an anti-China enterprise. The growing threat of China invading and capturing Taiwan has forced the US and many other Western countries to try to ring-fence China to contain its military and economic ambitions.
In such an environment, the US senators passing a bipartisan resolution in support of India is a clear indication of America’s willingness to challenge China in its conflict with India. America and its western allies will be loath to normalisation of India-China ties since India is seen as the best counter America can have to China. India’s neutral stand on the Russia-Ukraine war has not gone down well with the Western countries. And the possibility of peace between India and China will present America with a formidable challenge of India, Saudi Arabia, Iran, China and Russia grouping to counter American influence in the world.
India and China have already started dialling down their differences. Recently, Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar has even said that India can’t take on China, given China’s superior strength. “Look, they (China) are the bigger economy. What am I going to do? As a smaller economy, I am going to pick up a fight with the bigger economy? It’s not a question of being reactionary. It’s a question of common sense,” Jaishankar had said in an interview to a news agency. Just a few days before Jaishankar’s comment, India and China held in-person border talks after a long time. A top Indian official visited China after more than three years to discuss disengagement in areas along the LAC.
Russia has shown it’s willing to mediate between India and China. Russian foreign minister Segey Lavrov recently said he wanted India and China to become friends. He spoke for the Russia-India-China (RIC) group, saying Russia’s presence might be better for India and China, who might not want a one-to-one discussion.
While the American resolution is definitely a diplomatic win for India, it also appears to be America’s attempt to talk up India-China hostilities to keep the two-front threat to China alive, in the South China Sea and on India-China border.
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