Prologue continues......

The two Leaders have exchanged views on outstanding issues, including on the boundary question. They have welcomed the work of the Special Representatives and urged them to continue their efforts to arrive at a mutually-agreed framework for a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable settlement based on Political Parameters and Guiding Principles that were agreed by the two sides in 2005. They reiterated their understanding that efforts will continue to be made to ensure peace and tranquility in the border areas, and that both sides will continue to work on additional Confidence Building Measures in pursuit of this objective.

So what wrong between October 2019 and April 2020? There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that the military excursion against India made by the PLA’s Western Theatre Command was authorised by China’s President Xi Jinping. The PLA troops involved came from that Theatre Command’s ‘South Xinjiang Military District’ of the ‘Xinjiang Military Command’ and from its ‘Tibet Military Command’ in an obviously pre-planned and well-coordinated move. The Indian ability to be surprised when it needn’t be seems to be the primary culprit.

The  Indian  establishment’s  inability  to  read  the  Chinese  strategic mind and to remain prepared for it is sadly matched by the Indian inability to take serious note of the overweening Chinese national pride and the Chinese emphasis on ‘face’, both of which also colour their actions. Indian lack of ‘sea-mindedness’ and of ‘air-mindedness’ are added contributory factors.

In the aftermath of the Galwan-Eastern Ladakh incidents of 2020, it is hoped that a better understanding of the Chinese mind-set and of the China-Tibet-India relationship is gained by some through this book, which had aims to educate on exactly those.

Prologue concluded

Next up :- Introduction: The emergence of communist china