For quiet diplomacy on the china border

For quiet diplomacy on the china border

It is in no one's interest to escalate a minor tiff.
There is no gainsaying that the Chinese decision to block passage through the Nathu La pass for Kailash Mansarovar pilgrims is a setback. This has to be resolved through quiet diplomacy , without bluster and verbal aggression of the kind that runs riot on most television channels when they discuss relations with Pakistan or China. India and China are two ancient civilisations that have coexisted in peace and mutual respect for millennia. The first attempt to formally demarcate boundaries took place under colonial rule and this has left its mark on Sino-Indian relations, the two countries fighting a brief war over rights over territory . The solution is for India and China to discuss the boundary as two sovereign nations, taking into account history , geography , culture and current realities -a process that began after Rajiv Gandhi's visit to Beijing in December 1988 and still continues.
The Chinese have taken umbrage over the Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh. India probably needs to take a fresh look at how it sees the Dalai Lama. India gave the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet refuge, after he fled Chinese forces, purely on humanitarian grounds. India fully recognises China's right over Tibet. China's claims to portions of Himalayan land that India sees as its own stem from the result of Tibetan expansionism in the past, under previous Dalai Lamas, and the firm location of Tibet as a part of China. Respecting any special right for the Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh or other areas that China claims as Tibetan and, therefore, Chinese territory is to grant a Tibetan connection to these territories. Why should official policy grant any Tibetan connection to these territories that official policy claims as India's own? The Dalai Lama need not stray into areas adjacent to Tibet to expend humanitarian pangs.
It is not in anyone's interest for a minor wrangle between India and China to develop into a major row in which other major powers feel obliged to weigh in. The political leadership and India's diplomatic cadre must follow through on this logic.