AA Edit | Promise of peace dispels 5 yrs of India-China tension

The day that President Xi Jinping led Prime Minister Narendra Modi towards the spotlight for the photo opportunity in Kazan, Russia, in October 2024 had engendered the biggest breakthrough towards taking the frost out of India-China ties. There was a signal to be read in Mr Xi taking the lead that China was serious this time in its advocacy of peace to go beyond the border dispute, which itself may be nearer to satisfactory resolution as the disengagement process has been completed in the last of the friction spots in Demchok and Depsang.

It is the promise of that day, spent on the sidelines of the BRICS summit, that is blossoming into a time of peace in stepping into which India may be signalling now that it is prepared to go well beyond the “trust but verify” phase that saw it hold up steps to resume direct flights and visas, besides facilitating the resumption of the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra.

The number of Kailash pilgrims may be minuscule when measured against the three billion people that the two countries host and who represent nearly 40 per cent of the world’s population. But the Yatra’s symbolism is very high given the sentiment attached to the strenuous journey Indians undertake to visit the holy sites. A demand for direct flights has been in the air for a while now in both countries and the Chinese would also like to see the Indian visa process ease somewhat to accommodate more of its citizens.

The normalisation process is to resume with meetings at different levels and they would be part of the more wholesome efforts that may have been given an impetus at the meeting of special representatives last December when a six-point consensus was arrived at and again at the meetings the foreign secretary Vikram Misri held with two high Chinese officials in foreign minister, Wang Yi, and the minister of the international department of the Communist Party of China Liu Jianchao this week.

The presence of the foreign minister Wang Yi at the December and January meetings with the NSA Doval and foreign secretary Misri carry clear signs that the peace thrust is coming from the very top of the Chinese hierarchy. That it took a while to get the ball rolling may be owed to Indian misgivings over the border situation, the troop buildup and the soldier numbers on the frontier.

Meanwhile, another sticking point had arrived to dampen the calls for peace with China approving the construction of the world’s largest dam in Tibet on the Brahmaputra (named Yarlung Zangbo). It is to be read as another positive sign that both sides agreed at the vice-ministerial meeting to continue cooperation, including sharing hydrological data on cross-border rivers and hold a new round of meetings.

It does appear that a tranquil border as a metaphor for peace between the two most populous nations of the world is not looking as improbable as it did even a few months ago when the sticking points in the details of patrolling had seemed insurmountable. The 75th year of India-China ties is to be marked by ceremonial events, but it is the promise of an honest peace after nearly five years of tension in the aftermath of skirmishes leading to loss of lives of soldiers on both sides that should be welcomed heartily now.