Any Indo-China summit generates an extra amount of interest and the upcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Mamallapuram on October 11 is no exception. Although it will be an informal one, all eyes will still be on this meeting as it’s going to take place against a backdrop of certain recent developments which have somehow made the bilateral relationship more estranged. If Kashmir issue has added to its downgrade, Indian Army's combat exercise in Arunachal Pradesh titled Him-Vijay has also been a cause of Chinese resentment. Ahead of this summit, reports have also surfaced that for supplementing its arsenal in Northeastern sector comprising Tawang, Kameng and Walong areas of the state facing LAC with China, India has decided to deploy US-made M777 Ultra-Light Howitzers by the end of 2019. Thus, even before the beginning of the summit, India has given clear signals that it is going to include an aura of aggressiveness and with the gradual unfolding of a more ‘combative’ India, it will be interesting to see how the Chinese react.

It’s worth mentioning that Him-Vijay is the biggest ever mountain combat exercise in strategically vital Arunachal, where three battle groups, each comprising 4,000 soldiers are conducting drills at a height of nearly 15,000 feet, near Tawang which is just 100 kms away from LAC. Quite naturally, it has irked China followed by Indian clarification it has got nothing to do with the summit as it was a part of the routine affairs of the military establishment and decided much beforehand. Actually, if the history of military activities during official visits is recounted, it can be found that it was China alone who had repeatedly done so. Way back in 1992, during then Indian President R. Venkataraman’s visit, a megaton nuclear weapon was tested and very recently in 2014, Chinese army carried out infiltrations in Chumar and Demchok in J& K even as Xi Jinping was having close talks with Narendra Modi. With this precedence of their own making, China’s objection to Him-Vijay holds little base and argumentative value in the context of bilateral relations. But it’s little surprising since Arunachal has always been its obsession with a perennial claim that it’s a part of South Tibet. An overall look of the current events will however show that China is much troubled across various fronts. Besides the on-going trade war with US, Hong Kong issue is getting more complex. Its Pakistan card over Kashmir’s recent abrogation of Article 370 has also turned out to be a damp squib.

With an uncomfortable China at the other end of the table, a further reminder to stop dreaming about Arunachal, among other issues should thus expectedly be a part of the agenda.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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