China and India Internal Security Agreement

A new evolving feature of the Sino-India relationship was visible in the form of the two sides signing an Internal security agreement in 2018 (as an important de-escalatory measure post-Doklam crisis).

The agreement is a source of cooperation between the two states despite elements of constraints that rang from Pakistan, Masood Azhar, border dispute (Samar Lungpa, Trig Heights, Depsang Bulge, Kongka L Pangong Tso. Spanggur Gap, Mount Sajun, Dumchele, Demchok, Chumur in eastern Ladakh, and Namka Chu, Sumdurung Chu Yangstze, Asaphilla, Long Ju. Dichu in Arunachal Pradesh, and Kaurik, Shipki La Barahoti, and Pulan Sunda in the central sector are the twenty places where the border overlaps) and opposition of China to Indian membership of NSG.

 Even though India has tried megaphone diplomacy to resolve the irritants, it has not yielded any result as the Chinese position remains rigid on this issue These constraints exist despite India and China cooperating in SCO, BRIC, AIIB, and Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia.

This new Internal security agreement (which was being negotiated since 2015) is a continuation of the Wuhan spirit of 2018 (where there was a consensus to establish an umbrella agreement) and a new unorthodox diplomacy India has initiated (with patience ingrained as a diplomatic virtue) to seek a behavioral change of China. 

The new agreement has identified four themes of cooperation. They include

• Terrorism

• Narcotics and human trafficking

• Intelligence sharing

• .Disaster management

The significance of the agreement signed is that it can

1. Yield results related to cross-border infiltration matters.
2. Establish a mechanism for forewarning in case of floods and help in better planning of disaster management
3. As terrorism is one of the components of the new agreement, it shows the rising awareness of China in tackling terrorism as a threat it may face to its ambitious BRI. There is an understanding in both that instability in Afghanistan can have spillover effects on the national securities of the two states. however, there exist fundamental differences in the way the two states look at the solution in Afganistan. China asserts that Pakistan is a part of the solution to the Afgan problem.