China and India Bury the Hatchet... For Now
An agreement to disengage along the contested Himalayan border is a positive move, though there’s still deep distrust on both sides.
China and India have a long history of enmity.
Photographer: Tauseef Mustafa/AFP/Getty Images
India’s announcement that its four-year border dispute with China has ended should be welcome news. One less hotspot in a world on fire can only be a good thing, right?
Perhaps, though it is unclear what kind of resolution has been reached. And Beijing’s initial period of silence has done little to inspire confidence. India’s Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said Monday that the two nations had agreed to allow regular patrols along their contested Himalayan border. A day later, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian confirmed the deal.