China-India ties have held off escalation, but solution needed, say experts

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By CGTN's Dialogue

The border standoff between China and India has now gone on for more than a month, making it the most serious border conflict between the two countries since the 1962 border war. So where is this round of conflict heading?

The two neighbors’ bilateral relations have meant the skirmish has not yet escalated, Liu Youfa, former Chinese consul-general in Mumbai, told CGTN’s Dialogue.

Since China and India established strategic relations in 2005, both countries have taken efforts to develop bilateral ties and this is one reason why China has not resorted to force to drive Indian troops out of its territory, he argued.

“The Chinese side has so far given so much time for the Indian side, for our Indian friends to take sensitive measures.”

“I think that the Chinese side is standing there waiting for the Indian side to make the sensitive choice” and pull out of the region, Liu argued. “This is the best result for both sides to avoid the eventual confrontation.”

K.J.M. Varma, China correspondent of the Press Trust of India, meanwhile urged the two parties to return to the status quo before the standoff began.

“There has to be a diplomatic solution. It is not such a complex affair that you cannot solve. We have solved certain very very complex issues in the past that we have mechanisms to resolve this.”

Dialogue with Yang Rui is a 30-minute current affairs talk show on CGTN. It airs daily at 7.30 p.m. BJT (1130GMT), with rebroadcasts at 3.30 a.m. (1930GMT) and 11.30 a.m. (0330GMT).