‘Disengagement at Ladakh is a win-win for India and China’

Indian negotiators have a strategy to ensure that they could reach a “favourable" outcome with China in disputes in other border areas as well, Naravane said at an event organized by the New Delhi-based Vivekananda International Foundation think tank.

China was used to making incremental moves that were so small that they were not considered worthy of a reaction, the army chief said. This was Beijing’s strategy to deal with its neighbours in the contested South China Sea as well, he said.

“More than anything else, what we have shown is that this strategy will not work with us and every move will be met resolutely," Naravane said of India’s quick and matching response to Beijing’s attempts to change the status quo along the undemarcated 3,488-kilometre-long India-China border in May last year.

In an unexpected move, China last year mobilized tens of thousands of troops to the India-China Line of Actual Control (LAC) prompting New Delhi to react.

After nine rounds of talks since May last year, the two sides agreed to pull back troops from the northern and southern banks of the Pangong Tso lake, considered the most contentious of friction areas. The disengagement began on 11 February and was completed by 18 February with senior military commanders of the two countries meeting on Saturday to discuss disengagement from other friction points like the Depsang plains, Gogra post and Hot Springs area.

India’s strategy of using military, diplomatic, and economic measures paid dividends, Naravane said.

“I think what we have achieved so far is very good.... As a result of this approach the disengagement has taken place. I think it is a very good end result. It is a win-win situation and I think for any agreement to last, both sides should feel that they have achieved something. To that end, I think this is a very good outcome," he said.