Link to article: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/10/11/india-china-army-talks-border-tensions-ladakh
Summary: Indian and Chinese army commanders have begun talks to disengage troops from key friction areas along their shared border. These friction areas have been in a stalemate and standoff for 17 months and in some cases have led to conflicts that have been deadly. These talks however did not go in favor of peace and the Chinese in the words of the Indian Defence Ministry were “not agreeable and could provide any forward-looking proposals.” The Chinese however say something similar about the Indian side saying” the Indian side sticks to unreasonable and unrealistic demands, adding difficulties to the negotiations.” They then met again on Sunday to talk once again about the situation. These talks however did not go well either with India being frustrated with “the massive deployment of troops and weaponry by the Chinese side”. China says “China’s determination to safeguard its sovereignty is unwavering, and China hopes that India will not misjudge the situation.” However as the situation heats up the temperatures along the border that they are occupying cool off to temperatures around -30 celsius. Because of both the cooling temperatures and the conflicts that break out and have sometimes led to death both India and China hope to resolve this issue soon.
Analysis: While these talks themselves are good, the results of them are very poor. India is an ally with America so tensions with China would be higher than normal right off the bat was we are both considered Global Superpowers. These conflicts along the border however benefit no one. China and India are wasting resources, money, and manpower on areas neither of them want to be. Outside countries are fearful that one of these “border conflicts” could blow up and expand into a bigger conflict and very well affect them. These conflicts have been going on for 17 months and while talks between Indian and China have occurred more than once no progress is being made in some parts of the border the troop count has been increased so they are actually moving in the other direction. It is in everyone’s best interest that these border squabbles are straightened out and soon.
How it relates to class: This shows us how we were in a unipolar International system with America and having a massive presence and it reaching through its allies but now we can see that even a fairly powerful country such as India and with ties to America is getting pressure from China. Showing us that we may be moving from a unipolar to a bipolar with the United States and China as the 2 powerhouses of the world. It also shows us how Global Actors interact with each other having multiple talks but not being about to agree on much because they both refuse to back down as they both have the power to back what they are doing.