Even as 12 rounds of talks are stalled between top Chinese and Indian troop commanders in eastern Ladakh, where patrols from both countries clashed on the banks of lake Tsang Po in May 2020 resulting in the death of 20 jawans of the Indian Army and an unspecified number of Chinese soldiers, media reports indicate that on orders of the BJP/NDA government, the Indian Army is engaged in a massive infrastructure development drive on our side of the LAC (line of actual control). The objective is to enable swifter mobility of 50,000-60,000 Indian troops and weapon systems in forward areas. With several divisions of communist China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) also reportedly dug in on the other side of the LAC, this area could become the flashpoint of a new Sino-India border war at any time.

At this point in our history when the economy is struggling to recover after the worst recession in post-independent India, even a limited border war with China will be a catastrophe. First, because the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) backed by China’s $15 trillion technologically superior economy (cf. India’s $3 trillion), is certain to repeat its famous victory of the Sino-India border war of 1962.

In the circumstances the BJP/NDA government at the Centre has no option but to parley with CPC (Communist Party of China) leaders and negotiate a permanent settlement of the 3,488 km Sino-India border in the north and north-east which has been pending settlement for over half a century. The price of relative neglect of our national development effort for the past four decades has to be paid.

It’s chastening to note that in 1978 the national and per capita GDP of India and China was on a par. But in that watershed year, under the visionary leadership of CPC secretary Deng Xiaoping our neighbour nation took a historic U-turn to firmly place China on the capitalist road. Given full rein and official support, China’s entrepreneurs grew the economy at breakneck speed averaging 10 percent GDP growth per year for over two decades. This transformed the country into a manufacturing and industrial powerhouse and the world’s second largest superpower after the United States, surpassing Russia in the process.

Meanwhile even after the belated liberalisation and deregulation of the Indian economy in 1991, it’s been two steps forward and one back with Indi averaging a 5 percent annual GDP growth rate since 1978, a pathetic laggard in the international development race.

Against this backdrop even as the Covid-19 pandemic has further enfeebled the economy, display of false bravado by way of risking a military conflict with China which has recovered from the pandemic in record time, would be national suicide. The public interest demands a bona fide return to the negotiating table, and obtaining the best possible terms for permanent resolution of the protracted Sino-India border dispute. We must if necessary concede this battle to win the war with the 100 millionstrong CPC which is not only bullying all Asian countries, but oppressing the billion people of China.