“The art of war is of vital importance to the State. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected,” Sun Tzu, The Art of War.

At the turn of the 20th century, George Santayana, Spanish philosopher, writer and essayist, wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” We Indians possess a unique ability to wax eloquent on our civilisational heritage and yet remain remarkably ignorant, or pay little heed to, or learn from events that have occurred in the not too distant past.

The second meeting at Chushul-Moldo between Lt. Gen. Harinder Singh, India’s 14 Corps GOC, and his PLA counterpart on June 22 continued for over 11 hours, and resulted in only a short, crisp decision to disengage.

In the first part of this three series article, I discussed the strong civilizational connect (recorded formal interaction dates to 2nd Century BC) between India and China which prevented any sort of confrontation let alone conflict, and India’s official position of the boundary between the two countries. The history, geography, geopolitics and strategy, economy, technology, military potential, comprehensive national power and most importantly individual personalities (leaders) have a direct bearing on the way forward.

What does a big, unpopular, ‘different’ boy with very few friends do if he is suddenly picked on by most of the class? Admittedly he did something horrific bringing unimaginable misery to himself and the entire class, but ironically the other big boys had also done innumerable equally nasty things without being castigated.

Read more at: https://southasiamonitor.org/spotlight/india-china-dynamics-turbulent-times-civilisational-ties-and-border-dispute-part-i-three#.XukYJzMlkV8.whatsapp