Tibetan mind games: India's edge in border dispute with China?
On Wednesday, China's defence ministry announced it had reached an agreement with India over disengaging its troops from the Pangong Lake in eastern Ladakh, one of the friction points between the two sides.
But, despite the limited breakthrough, the tussle over the disputed India-China border is far from resolved.
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The heated exchange came as the stand-off along the LAC, the de facto border, entered its tenth month with - as the Indian foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar put it last week - still "no visible expression" of the two sides' earlier agreement to disengage.
But, disengagement or not, there are signs that New Delhi may be upping the ante in the confrontation by turning to mind games designed both to push Beijing's buttons and gain a tactical advantage on the ground.
Chief among these mind games appears to be an attempt by New Delhi to rattle Beijing by taking potshots at its cherished 'One China' policy, without officially withdrawing India's acceptance of it.
The principal, which holds that mainland China, Taiwan and Tibet are part of the same sovereign nation, forms the bedrock of Beijing's diplomatic ties with other nations and has been openly backed by India, which was among the first countries to recognise it.
Chinese PLA soldiers stationed at the border with India in Tibet. Photo: Handout alt=Chinese PLA soldiers stationed at the border with India in Tibet. Photo: Handout
Yet India now seems to think there is an advantage to be had in pressing Chinese insecurities on this most sensitive of matters. It has appointed an officer with Tibetan roots, Lhari Dorjee Lhatoo, to head the Ladakh unit of the Indo-Tibetan Border police, and is considering a proposal to teach the Tibetan language, culture and history to its army officers in an effort to give them an advantage on the ground.
Interestingly, on Tuesday, US Department of State spokesman Ned Price said the US was closely monitoring the situation along the India-China border, adding that it "will always stand by friends" amid "Beijing's pattern of ongoing attempts to intimidate neighbours."
Rakesh Sharma, a retired lieutenant general who previously commanded the 'Fire and Fury' Corps in Ladakh, said New Delhi might be employing such strategies due to a realisation that the stand-off was unlikely to end soon.
"India has to strategise with a long-term view that China is unlikely to carry out formal demarcation of the LAC and that the extended deployment will be the new normal," he said.
Tens of thousands of troops from both sides have been locked in the stand-off since early May, yet despite nine rounds of talks between military commanders from both sides, the build up along the LAC is only increasing.
The Hindustan Times claimed on Monday - quoting unnamed government sources - that the Chinese People's Liberation Army had made a fresh deployment of troops and heavy artillery along the LAC in Ladakh. The build up included 35 heavy military vehicles, guns, surface-to-air missile units and four 155mm PLZ 83 self-propelled howitzers, the newspaper claimed.
India meanwhile reportedly hopes that by teaching its officers the Tibetan language and an understanding of Tibetan culture on both sides of the border they will be able to read their enemy better and make better use of local intelligence sources.
The Times of India said the move was aimed at countering "the propaganda and spread of influence by China", while Sharma said it could have a major impact on India's ability to counter Chinese activities on the border.
"When you understand the adversary's culture, history and language, you are able to read what they are doing," he said.
It would give Indian officers a better understanding of the ground situation, he said, and make them more able to "extract local intelligence".
"What India needs to do, in the longer term, is to create more China-centric expertise in the armed forces," said Sharma. "Have officers who focus on China and then give them postings which allow them to utilise that expertise."
An Indian Army spokesperson refused to respond to questions about the proposal.
THE LADAKH SCOUTS
To some, the idea is reminiscent of the 'Ladakh Scouts' regiment India formed following its loss of the 1962 war with China.
The idea behind the Scouts, who were recruited from Ladakh, was to use their local knowledge of the terrain and their natural acclimatisation to altitude.
Similarly, at the end of the war, New Delhi raised a little-known paramilitary force, the Special Frontier Force (SFF), consisting of men from the Tibetan refugee communities. The force was meant to help India conduct counter-insurgency and intelligence operations along the LAC.
The SFF remains in use to this day. In August last year, India deployed it to occupy hills and vantage points on the LAC overlooking sensitive Chinese positions.
An Indian Air Force Apache helicopter flies over Ladakh. Photo: AFP alt=An Indian Air Force Apache helicopter flies over Ladakh. Photo: AFP
A retired senior military official, currently serving in a government post, said that demands had been made to expand the army's local expertise.
"One aspect of this was to raise more battalions of the Ladakh Scouts, including dedicated local cadre to collect intelligence from the ground. However, this demand stalled midway through," he said.
The moves by the Indian army come as the Tibetan refugee community votes to elect a new Tibetan political leadership in the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), the community's government-in-exile based out of India.
On Monday, the CTA announced that two candidates, former Tibetan Parliament-in-exile speaker Penpa Tsering and Kelsang Dorjee Aukatsang had been shortlisted for the final round of elections in April this year for the post of Sikyong, or head of the CTA.
Both candidates have indicated they might take a harder stance towards China and push India to do the same. While Tsering has announced his intent to "solicit support for the [Tibetan] freedom movement", Dorjee has promised to step up Tibetan advocacy efforts in India.
Abanti Bhattacharya, an associate professor in the department of East Asian Studies at the Delhi University, said New Delhi needed to "rethink its One China policy" and the CTA's new leadership might help push the case.
"The time is ripe and the iron is hot, the CTA should urge the Indian government to take a harder line [against China]," she said.
Bhattacharya recently argued such a challenge by New Delhi would "unnerve" Beijing.
"Given Beijing's disregard for the One India policy, challenging the One China policy is not only desirable but also doable to tame a belligerent China," she said.
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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