Indian and Chinese flag, (C) Times of India
For a long time, disputes over the line of actual control (LAC) between China and India makes headlines in those countries and around, but not in ours that much. Since the 1950s, both nations are trying to define their border between in each other. A border, that was not created by them but by the British when India was a colony. Since they had Hong Kong for cheap, they wanted to please as much as possible the Chinese government in making their border with India more interesting. The line of actual control and the McMahon line (now using LAC for the whole border dispute) is the object of an ongoing war, still today, but not for the same purpose as it was in the past. Right now, the conflict is more of whether the Chinese government will have more supremacy in Asia or the Indian one. We will see more precisely what they are fighting for but also the national and international repercussion of that conflict in other areas of tension in Asia.
Map of the Conflict, (C) The Economist
First, the territorial fight is about Ladakh, Jammu-Kashmir, Galwan Valley, and Arunachal Pradesh. Some places are owned by a country but claimed by another other and vice versa. Parts are divided in two but claimed by their entirety. Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, and Myanmar, unfortunately, need to pick one side or the other. If they do not comply, they are afraid to have a part of their country to be picked as the next target of one of the two superpowers. For most of the territory, there are no big cities are towns since the landscape is mostly in the Himalayan mountains. It is far from Lhassa, Kashgar or Ludhiana.
During the last couple of years, they fought each other directly. Once in a cease-fire, they fought … with rocks, because they technically did not have the right to use guns. They also blockade some routes and resources. They will do anything to thwart the enemy.
Army in the Galwan Valley, (C) Reuters and the National Post
Are they only fighting for power? Yes and … no. Except for religious reasons, as it is an important place for Hinduism and Buddhism religion, it is only for power and supremacy. Even if the British, the Indians, and the Chinese did not make it right when creating the border between the two superpowers, there is no real need to rearrange it today. Resources in the area are divided mostly equally, the few people living in the area do not have any affiliation and there is nothing that makes the area more Chinese or Indian. The religious infrastructure does not affect more one side or the other as Buddhism and Hinduism were both socially develop in India and in this area, both religions and cultures are accepted.
Other G8 and G20 countries can intervene if they want to, especially United Kingdom, but the United States can also help a lot to counter the Chinese and Russians in this area of the world. Russia tried recently to organize talks and meetings when the clash restarted this summer, but it was not successful at all. Lavrov also said that they do not need a third country to take care of bilateral problems and conflict. Personally, I do not agree since this conflict is not only bilateral because other countries around are unwillingly involved in this. If it was only a two-sided thing, I would have agreed with him. As an example, Pakistan which has issues with India over the Kashmiri region, decided to side with China. When a clash occurred in June, the French and American governments pick the Indian side and move the army closer in case of another bigger event that would need their presence and intervention.
Construction in a Disputed Territory, (C) Times of India
It is not necessarily necessary, but I say the UK needs to be part of it because it can redeem itself by resolving the issue they create. Both India and China will hate each other anyways because they are superpowers and the most populous countries in the world, but they would stop fighting for the border when the issue is elsewhere. It is a diplomatic issue and should be resolved with diplomacy. I said that countries can intervene, but not militarily. The only thing they should do is to calm down those nations but not decide who is the winner in all of this. It started a long time ago and it should stop. Internationally, they look like fools.
Unfortunately, we cannot say that we will not care about it, we have to follow closely because if China or India dominates the other, it could cause other issues in Asia and unbalanced powers. China already has issues with Japan and the United States over some territory in their area as India has trouble with Pakistan. China should instead focus on its inner territorial issue with Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang and India should focus on its own with the Panjab and Jammu-Kashmir regions. These countries have more important issues than those bordering in the middle of mountains in the Himalayas. They had so much instability with their border for a long time that some inhabitant of the area does not even remember why they are fighting for. People remember more movies about military victories like Hindustan Ki Kassam and others than the actual conflict because nobody is winning. These people need a winner called peace. They have problems created because they did not focus enough on their people. Only the future can tell us if they are going to stop fighting each other for that border. For now, it does not seem that the war will end, but it will need to be … selfishness is over. We all hope that if this conflict cools down for good, there will be no other issue of that sort.