Talks only way to resolve Sino-Indian border dispute

With the international community focused on the global fight against the novel coronavirus, Indian troops violated the Line of Actual Control (the non-demarcated border) between China and India in May, leading to a weeks-long tense standoff between and the armies of the two Asian neighbors in the remote Galwan Valley and Pangong Lake in the Aksai Chin area.

Even though the two militaries held talks in early June seeking to defuse the tension, the Indian intrusion on June 15 led to a deadly fight between Chinese and Indian soldiers resulting in casualties on both sides. Unfortunately, the brutal clash broke the more than four decades of tranquility along the LAC, and has turned the peaceful valley in the Western Himalayas into a scuffle ground.

More importantly, the clash, once again after the Doklam face-off in 2017, reflects a steady erosion of the consensus that Beijing and New Delhi reached in the early 1990s－not allowing the border dispute to be the flashpoint of their ties and observing the LAC until a settlement is reached. Indeed, in the last decade, particularly after Narendra Modi became prime minister, India has made a series of moves to strengthen its position along the disputed borders with its neighbors－Pakistan, Nepal and China.