The priorities of Joe Biden are all over the place and as he is going easy on the Chinese. So, Xi Jinping is taking this opportunity to try and placate India and take things back to the days of Wuhan spirit. Beijing is reflecting the view that with the Biden administration in the USA, India will be ready to return to normalcy with China. However, India, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has extensive clarity in its foreign policy and it may not reverse the sharp shift in its China policy after the Galwan clash.
To show the intent of normalization and to placate India, China has partially revealed its soldiers that died during the Himalayan border clash in the summer of 2020. China, for the first time on Friday, said four Chinese soldiers died during a bloody Himalayan border clash with Indian troops in June 2020, adding that the men were given posthumous awards. As per Reuters, Chen Hongjun, Chen Xiangrong, Xiao Siyuan and Wang Zhuoran died during what Chinese state media described as a “fierce struggle” against “foreign troops” that violated an agreement and crossed into the Chinese side.
Although the number of Chinese casualties at Galwan is slated to be higher and above 35 as indicated by the US, Russia and India, China’s partial acceptance came only after the military disengagement between the two countries after a ten-month-long standoff. It appears that China wants to start a new chapter in Indo-China ties, taking things back to how they were before the ties soured unprecedentedly.
While Xi Jinping may think that, India is willing to compromise with the Chinese and go back to as things were, with the USA not taking its side resolutely, they forget PM Modi and the people leading India’s defence forces have reiterated time and again that India has taken a stand concerning China, considering that it will not have people backing it always. India was prepared for the worst-case scenario, and with the coming of Joe Biden, it became obvious that he did not perceive China as a threat to the same extent as President Donald Trump did.
To put it into perspective, the Uyghur genocide in the Xinjiang province in China is well documented. The Trump administration had officially labelled actions in Xinjiang as a genocide. But President Biden recently tried to explain the rationale behind the genocides as a cultural norm, indicating that the new US President is going to be soft on China. When a person is ready to play down the worst and most apparent acts against humanity, it becomes clear where his loyalties lie.
So, while the Chinese think that they can get India to change its course because of some change in international dynamics, and India will be willing to accept a Chinese invite to reconcile, they are sadly mistaken. India tried to explain to the Chinese that being a civilizational state comes with its set of responsibilities and it was the duty of the two nations to maintain peace and tranquillity. However, China did not understand it and went ahead with intimidatory tactics.
And now as things have turned out this way, Indian PM Modi will not accept any sweet talk from the Chinese. The Chinese may think that they will be able to placate Mr Modi and re-energize their economy with the resumption of trade with India and things going back to the pre-May 2020, but PM Modi is a realist and a leader with great clarity. He will not be swayed by the phoney tactics of the Chinese Communist Party and Xi Jinping.