After ten days of extreme anxiety, the five youths from the state who were abducted and held captive by the Chinese PLA finally touched the Indian soil on Saturday. The issue had all qualities of snowballing into a major international talk, if the release was not achieved so quickly. It’s also heartening to observe that China, at least, hasn’t treaded the Pakistan way where negotiations have no place and a hellish life awaits for people falling victims under similar circumstances. A certain level of expectation that will grow from the incident is that it might exert a further positive influence on the ongoing diplomatic talks between the two nations. The positive gesture has come from China at the right time, since on Friday, a significant headway has been achieved where both nations reportedly agreed to explore the major avenues of easing tension which has reached the zenith, if historically compared with similar head-to-head bilateral wrangles over the last 45 years. With due respect to all forms of ‘patriotism’ (if the word ‘jingoism’ tastes bitter) that the country is witnessing over the current standoff with China, it mustn’t be forgotten that a war, as understood in the general sense, will lead to nothing at all. An Indo-China war in 2020 should not be likened to the 1962 war, as by now, both countries are nuclear powers and there will be far-reaching international ramifications too. Thus, normalcy must be sought, however protracted the timeline might demand for attaining it.

The two-and-a-half-hour meeting on Thursday night in Moscow between India’s EAM S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi was keenly observed and from the joint statement based on a mutually agreed five-point approach, a commitment has arrived to continue the ongoing dialogues and disengage troops quickly, all for cooling down the ‘temperature’. It also needs to be observed that it has been a joint statement this time, a significant shift from the established protocol of issuing separate ones- another point of hope, since it exhibits an aura of genuineness of intention by both countries. It’s a matter of fact that the trust quotient between India and China has fallen so rapidly during the past few years that it is taking time to repair. The whole world knows on whom the quantum of blame is to fall. How can friendship exist, let alone thrive, if wild claims over territories are nurtured and chased continuously? Arunachal was never China’s and never it will be- these simple words must be understood by the Chinese government. The same holds true regarding the other zones of dispute over the entire LAC.

Normalcy must be given a chance and the major part of the onus for its attainment falls on China.