�Line of Amity� can form basis of Indo-China border talks, says Jaideep Saikia
GUWAHATI, Sept 2 - The Line of Actual Control in the Kameng Sector should be converted to an intermediate �Line of Amity�, said Jaideep Saikia, an expert on the Indo-China boundary issue at an international webinar on �India-China Boundary: Eye to the Eastern Sector� held on August 30 August with Guwahati as the �domain-juncture�.
Saikia felt that as neither India nor China would surrender ground and that the only solution to the border problem lies in converting the �Line of Actual Control� into an International Boundary, so for the resolution of the problem, there is a need to replace the current �Line of Actual Control� by a classification that does not ring of belligerence, a press release stated.
The webinar, organised by Saikia, attracted the attention of very senior and important China observers from India and from the international community. Top experts in the field, including, former Foreign Secretary of India, Shyam Saran, former Home Secretary of India, GK Pillai, Claude Arpi, Myra MacDonald, Srikanth Kondapalli, Ambassador Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty, Professor Alex Waterman (from the University of Leeds, United Kingdom), Lt Gen JR Mukherjee, Air Marshal PK Barbora, Lt Gen Anil Ahuja, Lt Gen Rakesh Sharma, Lt Gen Sanjay Kulkarni, Lt Gen K Himalay Singh, Maj Gen AK Bardalai among others participated.
The pros and cons of the India-China boundary conflict were discussed at length and recommendations forwarded about a possible resolution to the problem. Concern was expressed about the growing Chinese belligerence after the Galwan episode and ways examined to thwart the possibility of the People�s Liberation Army�s military advancement into the sensitive North East. Stress was also laid on the means to take a step that would not only aid correct direction for a later-day resolution but also the need to replace the current �Line of Actual Control� by a classification that does not ring of belligerence.
Although there was a consensus that India enter into negotiations pertaining to the boundary from a �position of strength�, Jaideep Saikia felt that at least a change of nomenclature that resonates of accommodation could herald a positive mindset change from a continual and non-progressive status quo. It was suggested that altering the name from �Line of Actual Control� to �Line of Amity� would not have any legal implications or bring forth questions about the principle by which delineation of boundaries are normally undertaken. It has been so in the case of the Sino-Russia boundary where the midstream of the Ussuri river was considered to be the boundary. Such agreements follow the Thalweg Principle and Saikia felt that it can be applied to the Kameng Sector by way of a slight variation: Indians do not cross the Namka Chu river and the Chinese do not intrude beyond where they are presently perched, atop the Thagla Ridge.
The name �Line of Amity� also has the distinct possibility of bringing future leaders of both the countries to the table without the baggage of the past as well as the suspicion that has accompanied almost all Indo-China boundary dialogue and could well be the prerequisite for peace. �The Line of Amity, Saikia states would be an intermediate solution (status quo) before a full and final settlement is resorted to, making, thereby the McMahon Line into an International Boundary. As a matter of fact, the late Neville Maxwell (in correspondence with Jaideep Saikia) had said that the ultimate term should be called the �Modi-Xi Line� (The Assam Tribune, 25 October, 2015 in a conversation piece with Jaideep Saikia).
