ARCHANA MASIH
"The events of 2020 added greater impetus to India's deepening engagement with the US, Japan, France, and Australia. The evolution of the Quad since April 2020 is a case in point. So while Beijing did somewhat gain tactically, it seems to have lost ground strategically," points out Manoj Kewalramani, author of Smokeless War - China's Quest for Geopolitical Dominance and a leading Indian observer of Chinese politics, foreign policy and approaches to new technologies.
"Competition and volatility have become the defining characteristics of the India-China relationship, and this state of affairs is likely to persist for some time to come," he says in the concluding part of his interview with Rediff.com's Archana Masih on what lies ahead for India-China ties.
What did China intend to gain by initiating the military standoff in Ladakh in 2020? And has it achieved anything?
That's a really difficult question to answer because Beijing has never really clarified its objectives. I think one obvious goal was to retard the development of Indian infrastructure.
If you recall, immediately after the Galwan Valley clash, the Chinese side accused (external link) the Indian side of 'unilaterally and continuously' building roads, bridges and other facilities. It had added that China had 'lodged representations and protests on multiple occasions but India has gone even further to cross the LAC and made provocations.'
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