Debate I In Doklam, Buddha’s Maxim on ‘Win-Win War’ Holds True

With the Doklam crisis coming to an end, both India and China can work towards greater economic cooperation.

Buddha’s principle – ‘there are no losers in an ideal war, only winners’ – stands true as the Doklam crisis comes to an end.

(Photo: Harsh Sahani/ The Quint)

(As the Doklam crisis ends, The Quint debates how India and China can engage with each other on resolving border disputes. This is the View. You may like to read the Counterview by Brig Anil Gupta here.)

The ideal war, the great Buddha once said, is one in which there are no losers and both sides are winners.

Now, what is that unique kind of war in which no side loses and both sides win? It is a war that is never fought. It is a war consciously prevented from breaking out by both sides deciding to de-escalate the tension that could have led to an armed conflict.

Viewed this way, the Buddhist principle of an unfought ideal war has won in Doklam, where the Indian and Chinese troops were locked in an eyeball-to-eyeball standoff for over two months. The end of the standoff, brought about through concerted diplomatic efforts by both sides, has been such that neither India nor China has lost, whereas both sides have won.

Also Read: Doklam’s Big Picture: Neither Asia nor the World is China-Centric

Back to the Status Quo

India has fully withdrawn its troops from the territory disputed between Bhutan and China, which it had entered on 18 June. China has similarly pulled back its additional troops from the immediate standoff area, even though a certain level of Chinese troops’ presence in the larger Doklam territory will continue, as before, for the purpose of patrolling. Both sides can thus claim they have achieved their aims.

India’s gain is that China has also withdrawn (temporarily or permanently, we do not know) its construction equipment, which it had brought in to build a road near the India-Bhutan-China trijunction close to the so-called ‘Chicken’s Neck’ connecting India’s North-East with the rest of our country.

Chinese road construction in that area was the initial provocation, or justification, for India to send its troops into Doklam. Beijing’s gain: its oft-repeated demand that India must withdraw its troops from a territory China asserted to be its own has been met by New Delhi.

In other words, the situation has moved back to where it was before the whole crisis began.

Also Read: China Won’t Attack Doklam: Why an Army Officer in Sikkim Thinks So

Both sides can claim they’ve achieved their aims with respect to Doklam.(Photo: Rhythum Seth/ The Quint)

No Threat to BRICS Summit

This has yielded yet another gain for both India and China. Continuation of the military standoff at Doklam would have certainly cast a dark shadow over the ninth BRICS summit, scheduled to be held in China’s south-eastern city of Xiamen in the first week of September. There was even a distinct possibility of Prime Minister Narendra Modi staying away from the summit. (See my two-part article on The Quint ─ ‘BRICS-Plus? Or a BRICS-Minus Modi Summit in Xiamen?’ and ‘In Midst of Doklam, Don’t Make the Mistake of Missing Out on BRICS’ ).

Modi’s absence at the Xiamen summit would have placed a question mark over the credibility of BRICS itself. And this would have hurt both India and China – not to speak of other members of the organisation, and also developing nations at large. In this sense, too, the Buddha’s wise principle of a win-win ‘war’ has won.

Also Read: How Can India & China Move On From Doklam? Easy: Soft Power

Lessons from Doklam

What are the lessons to be learnt from this unfortunate incident that threatened India-China relations? Let me list six.

One: Doklam has conclusively proved that there is no military solution to any of the issues between India and China.

Sound diplomacy and high-level political contacts can do what nuclear bombs, tanks, missiles and submarines cannot.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi (left) with Chinese President Xi Jinping (right) during a meeting in Xian, May 2015. (Photo: PTI) 

Two: If the ultimate solution was to get back more or less to a status quo ante, couldn’t – and shouldn’t – New Delhi and Beijing have acted in good time to nip the problem in the bud? Yes, they could, and should, have. But they didn’t because they lacked adequate mutual trust and goodwill. And if this deficit continues, new Doklams are bound to surface in the future. Therefore, Prime Minister Modi and President Xi should strive to build strategic trust and goodwill, both at the top leadership level and at the people-to-people level. For this to happen, both countries should be sensitive and responsive to each other’s core concerns and interests.

Three: In order to prevent future Doklam-like, or worse, crises, it is necessary for India and China to begin serious efforts to resolve the larger boundary issue. The 19 rounds of talks between the special representatives of our two countries have made no headway.

The Doklam crisis could not have been resolved without both sides displaying the spirit of give-and-take. The same spirit of compromise and mutual accommodation, on a much bigger scale, is needed to fix the nearly 3,500-km-long boundary.

Four: Tiny and vulnerable Bhutan was where the militaries of two Asian giants had a face-off. Bhutan is in a position where it can displease neither India nor China. Left to itself, Thimpu would like to have friendly relations with both, while safeguarding its own independence and sovereignty. As big powers, India and China have a moral obligation to respect Bhutan’s sentiments and be equal partners in its security and development. Small nations cannot be used as theatres for the bigger ones’ power games.

Specifically, India should not come in the way of Bhutan establishing diplomatic relations with China. New Delhi should also stay neutral in the efforts of Bhutan and China to resolve their border disputes (including over Doklam, which China claims to be its sovereign territory) among themselves. China, however, should assure India on its security concerns.

Five: Let’s admit, the Doklam crisis has greatly vitiated India-China ties, which were not very harmonious in the first place. The media of both countries need introspection and self-correction, replacing rancour with restraint and ultra-nationalism with mutual respect.

Also Read: Debate I Clouds of War or Just a War of Cloudy Words?

Economic Cooperation

Six: For India-China relations to improve on a stable and sustainable basis, our two countries need strong new anchors in economic cooperation capable of building robust inter-dependence. Frankly, the current state of India-China economic cooperation is not satisfactory even though both the countries are the two main engines of global economic growth today.

It is far below both countries’ potential and need. Bilateral trade has still not reached the target of $100 billion by 2015, as set by both the countries in 2010. It is languishing below $75 billion.

India’s trade deficit with China has mounted to over $45 billion. What this means is that just as India should buy more from China, China should buy even greater quantities of high-value goods from India.

China has still not sufficiently recognised India's strengths in software, digital technologies, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, etc. The level of Chinese investments in India is also very low compared to the huge quantum of China’s investible resources – last year it was just about $2 billion.

Also Read: Doklam: Can Swadeshi Sentiment Reduce India-China Trade Deficit?

Towards a New Beginning

The Doklam crisis had negatively impacted both trade and investment. Now that it is over, the two countries should move aggressively to explore and implement ambitious and mutually beneficial opportunities. Let us hope for a successful BRICS summit in Xiamen.

When Prime Minister Modi and President Xi meet on the sidelines of the summit, they should give a big push to India-China economic cooperation, besides sorting out mistrust-generating political issues. A new beginning should be made by India joining China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative as an equal partner. Specifically, our two countries should partner in some game-changing projects of infrastructure and economic cooperation in South Asia, involving all our neighbours including Pakistan.

In short, the wisdom of Buddhism, which is the strongest link between Indian and Chinese civilisations, should continue to guide every aspect of our bilateral relations and our engagement with the rest of the world.

Also Read: Tharoor on Doklam: Are There Any Undertakings From the Chinese?

(The writer, who was an aide to India’s former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, is chairman of the Observer Research Foundation, Mumbai. He can be reached @SudheenKulkarni . This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)

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