Shanghai Cooperation Organization Foreign Ministers Could Head Off China-India Border Conflict

Sept. 10, 2020 (EIRNS)—As the foreign ministers of China and India meet on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) foreign ministers’ meeting in Moscow today, both sides are beefing up their military forces along the China-India border. Media reports today indicate that Chinese “high-altitude” troops are practicing their parachute jumps. “High-altitude” artillery was also tested on the Tibetan plateau recently. And Chinese fighters and bombers have been seen at aerodromes on the Tibetan Plateau, capable of reaching the Chinese border with India.

Chinese and Indian defense ministers met last week in Moscow on the sidelines of the SCO defense ministers’ meeting, and while both sides indicated a willingness to compromise, there was another flare-up at the border afterwards, with shots being fired for the first time in decades on the border. The previous fight that erupted with the death of at least one person was largely hand-to-hand combat. The border is also an access point to China’s Tibet, which is still contested by Tibetan exiles, many of whom are deployed as “high-altitude” troops in the Indian army.

Indian aggressiveness may well be being encouraged by the U.S. and the British, with their decades-long influence in the region, who are interested in creating a NATO-like force in the Indo-Pacific region to contend with China. India is being hotly wooed by the U.S. for its Indo-Pacific gambit. Hard-liners in China will also tend to be activated by the border tensions.