Out in the Middle of Nowhere

In a previous post I talked about the dispute between China and India over a small piece of land on the border with Bhutan, a country most people have never heard of.  Both Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh, one of the 29 states of India, are in an area that is in dispute.  Indian President Ram Nath Kovind visited there and set off a diplomatic exchange like he had invaded the little place all by himself.  This is typical of the way the Chinese react to anything they don’t like - especially when it involves territory they want.  They do it with Taiwan and the South China Sea almost every day.  

There is actually a dispute about who owns this land and soldiers tried to settle that a few years ago, without success.  If it is a state in India, as the Indians say, then it seems like nobody else could claim it.  I did find some news stories claiming it was not a state in India which seems odd.  It either is or it isn’t.  

The whole mess is centered around a familiar theme that goes back to 1913-1914 with negotiations between India, China, and Tibet producing the Simia Accord.  The Chinese representative refused to accept the territorial claims, similar to how the UN Tribunal took up the settlement of islands in the South China Sea, where China did not participate.  When things don’t go their way, they take their ball and go home.  When they do go their way, the expound the “multinational agreement” to the high heavens, and deliver a barrage of messages about how everyone agrees.  One China is the best example. 

This is the “what’s mine is mine;  what’s yours is negotiable” style of the Russians and Chinese.  We allow this type of diplomacy for reasons that seem beyond my understanding.  Apparently, India sees this the same way and is not giving up.  With the Chinese, the only thing that succeeds is force.  It doesn’t have to be armed force, but it has to be forceful diplomacy or force of armed men to get their attention, then, it has to be applied forever - not just a few days.  They won’t quit, so India can’t either.  In the case of the South China Sea and Taiwan (and South Korea) we are in it forever.  There won’t be a time when we can say we can negotiate the release of Taiwan to China as the British did with Hong Kong.  We saw how that worked out, and the people living there can be lessons for Taiwan too.  We are not going to give up control of the trade routes for what China believes is their territory.  Forever is a long time, but we better get used to it.