Indian military sceptical of demilitarised zone on contested border with China

Soldiers from both countries will no longer patrol a nine-kilometre stretch of land where troops clashed last year

Chinese soldiers and tanks withdraw from the Line of Actual Control that separates Chinese and Indian territory. AFP

After the deadliest fighting in decades, India and China are setting up demilitarised areas along their Himalayan border – a move that has rankled some members of India’s security establishment.

Soldiers from both countries will no longer patrol a nine-kilometre stretch of land on the north bank of Pangong Tso, a glacial lake about 4,300 metres above sea level where troops clashed last year.

The agreement will result in India pulling back from high ground occupied in a stealth operation last August, two Indian officials said.

The move comes after a similar demilitarised zone was created last year about 150 kilometres away along the Galwan River, where 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese troops were killed in hand-to-hand combat.

That escalation on June 15 was the first time casualties were reported along the disputed frontier since 1975. China acknowledged the deaths on February 19.

While the withdrawal of forces  cools tensions for the moment, some members of India's security establishment believe the creation of demilitarised areas work in Beijing's favour, according to the officials.

They said China raised suspicions by objecting to an Indian proposal for both countries to patrol the area around the lake on alternate days on the grounds that it would affect Chinese sovereignty.

Indian defence and security officials raised their concerns about the area around Pangong Tso with the government but it opted for a quick disengagement.

On February 10, the countries began withdrawing soldiers, tanks and artillery guns that were stationed around the lake within rifle range of each other for nearly 10 months.

The Indian army, Defence Ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

China's Foreign Ministry said the creation of demilitarised zones along the border was "made up by the media".

On Friday in Beijing, ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the situation "significantly eased" after the disengagement.

"The two sides should cherish this hard-won momentum and consolidate existing outcomes, maintain momentum for consultation and further ease the situation," he said.

Distrust between the two militaries could lead to further misunderstandings, said Sushant Singh, a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi.

“The model of buffer zones is temporary and full of challenges. More importantly, India’s options are limited in case China – a much bigger military power – violates the agreement," he said.

If the demilitarised areas keep the peace, they could become a model for how India and China deal with issues along a border nearly as long as the one between the US and Mexico.

Nationalism stoked by the fighting has had an economic effect, with the Indian government banning hundreds of Chinese apps, slowing approvals for Chinese investment and strengthening security ties with the US, Japan and Australia.

Still, while the demilitarised zones are aimed at preventing clashes of the sort that erupted last summer, the competing claims between the two sides remain, officials said.

A previous experiment with creating a demilitarised zone on the border with China has shown that it is no guarantee of peace.

An 80 square-kilometre patch of pasture land along the southern edge of the Tibetan Plateau and the Indian border state of Uttarakhand was the first to be set aside as no-man’s-land in the 1950s.

But that failed to prevent conflict in the area, said Jayadeva Ranade, a member of India's National Security Council Advisory Board and head of the Centre for China Analysis and Strategy in New Delhi.

“The Uttarakhand border continues to be a hot spot. Beijing’s track record of respecting agreements is poor," he said.