In India, Diplomacy Praised for Ending Chinese Border Battle

Diptendu Dutta/Agence France-Presse â€" Getty Images An Indian soldier standing guard at a border crossing between India and China in Sikkim, in this July 10, 2008 photo.

NEW DELHI â€"According to numerous unsourced or unattributed news reports here, Chinese troops stationed 19 kilometers, or 12 miles, inside the area that India claims as its northern border withdrew on Sunday.

Many of these reports praised the governing government coalition’s decision to take a low-key approach to the conflict. The government had come under fire from opposition parties pushing for a more aggressive response.

“Diplomacy finally won the day as India and China ended their three-week stand-off in the Daulat Beg Oldi sector in eastern Ladakh,” The Hindu newspaper reported. The report cited unnamed Ministry of External Affairs sources.

While the Chinese pulled down their tents, chained their dogs and withdrew at about 7 p.m., troops of the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), which had been ordered to face the Chinese troops, started falling back to their original positions. By 10 p.m., the plateau was clear of the troops and their related paraphernalia.

“Quiet Diplomacy Works,” a Hindustan Times article was headlined. “Deepened diplomatic engagement with China finally ended the 21-day border standoff in eastern Ladakh on Sunday, with both armies agreeing to simultaneously pull out of the site and go back to pre-April 15 positions,” the article said. By Monday morning, “everything will be back to normal,” an unnamed government source told the newspaper.

Channi Anand/Associated Press A view of the Pangong Tso lake near the India-China border in Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir.

So far, however, there have been few details or analyses of the situation.

The three-week diplomatic crisis was sparked when dozens of Chinese troops camped on Indian-claimed territory in Ladakh, at some point displaying signs in English telling Indian troops they had “crossed the border,” and asking them to “please go back.”

Unnamed sources told newspapers there may have been concessions made to the Chinese, without offering any more information.

“It seems there was some sort of ‘a quid pro quo’ behind the mutual withdrawal of Indian and Chinese troops from the 16,300-feet face-off site in the Depsang Bulge area of northern Ladakh on Sunday evening,” the Times of India reported, citing unnamed sources who said there was “some give-and-take” to resolve the face-off. “There had to be some face-saver for the Chinese,” a source told the paper.