India, China: Amicable End To The Doklam Standoff

Di Vincenzo Santo*

(Da Stratfor – 28 agosto 2017)

La questione del Doklam

Pechino. More than two months after the Doklam standoff that saw clashes between soldiers of India and China, a breakthrough has finally been achieved and both countries have agreed to disengage troops, according to a statement issued by the Indian External Affairs Ministry on August 28, The Asian Age reported. The move of resolving the standoff comes ahead the 9th annual BRICS summit to be held in Beijing. The standoff was just the latest manifestation of a border dispute that began long before Chinese soldiers tried to extend a road through the contested region June 16 — and one that extends well beyond the area in question (…) Doklam is a small part of a much bigger story. India and China share a 4,057-kilometer (2,521-mile) border known as the Line of Actual Control, and nearly all of it is in dispute. For instance, in the northwest lies Aksai Chin, a territory in Kashmir that India claims but China has administered ever since capturing it from India in 1962, when the two countries fought a short, sharp border war in which China emerged the victor. Then to the northeast is Arunachal Pradesh. China captured much of the area in 1962 but subsequently withdrew. China, however, still claims Arunachal Pradesh as “South Tibet,” and Chinese troop incursions along the poorly demarcated border are not uncommon (…) India’s desire to bolster infrastructure along a contested border suggests border confrontations with China will continue. This is part of the natural friction that arises when two large countries share a boundary that unfolds across the indomitable chain of the world’s tallest mountains (…).

*Generale CA ris

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