India and China have agreed to expeditiously disengage from the stand-off in Doklam. There has been a crisis over the Bhutanese territory for 72 days. China has agreed to a simultaneous pull-out of troops. Top level Chinese and Indian official have been in a huddle for almost 10 weeks and finally foreign ministry officials of the countries arrived at a peaceable solution. The Indian Troops have already withdrawn to their post at Doklam. Chinese troops and their road-building engineers also beat a retreat to the stand-off which began in June when Indian troops stopped the PLA from building a road on Doklam plateau. Chinese plans caused security concerns for India. The Resolution of the crisis comes on the eve of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to China for the BRICS summit. It also comes shortly before the 19th party Congress in China.
The Doklam issue was orphanage to the 2013 incident at Depsang and the 2014 one at Chumar in one respect. In all three clashes China tried to change the ground reality to pose a new boundary issue. India for its part for the first time sent its troops to a third country. It was however to protect Bhutan’s territorial rights. India ramped up its military presence but external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj used every diplomatic initiative to stave off an armed conflict with China while seeking the support of all neighbours on her side. The stress was put on economic collaboration between the two giant neighbours. China continued to carry on aggressive diplomacy against India but in the end Delhi has prevailed. Doklam shows the best way to defend the Indian claims on the LOAC.
