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India and China are in talks to set up a direct hotline as early as next month. The hotline would connect Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, allowing the two to conduct direct diplomacy. Similar hotlines already exist between Beijing and Washington and Washington and Moscow.
China and India’s long simmering border dispute has heated up again recently, with India planning to increase troop levels and build more airstrips in the remote state of Arunachal Pradesh, a territory that China claims as its own. Indian media meanwhile reported that the Indian air force strengthened the northeastern airbase of Tejpur with a squadron of Su-30 fighters, the most advanced planes in the Indian armory.
Chinese state-media blasted the moves, saying that it was china wouldn’t make “any compromises in its border disputes with India.” The editorial, which appeared in the Global Times, went on to state that India’s course of action would only lead to a rivalry between the two countries. “India needs to consider whether or not it can afford the consequences of a potential confrontation with China.”
Meeting in Yekaterinburg on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperative Organization summit, Chinese President Hu Jintao and Singh were able to smooth over some of the ruffled feathers, and the two leaders agreed to increase high level contacts between the two countries.
Further Reading:
Plans for China-Pakistan railway Trouble India
China / India Border Disputes: Aksai Chin, China’s Kashmir
China / India Border Disputes: Ladakh, India’s Little Tibet
China / India Border Disputes: Arunachal Pradesh, India or South Tibet?
