Whether China steps back or ups ante, it will lose in Doklam

Indian Army reinforcements on its way to the Doklam plateau

Actually, if the Chinese had invited the Indian side on August 1 and accepted our invitation for August 15, they would have embarrassed themselves politicallyby Kanwal Sibal When the news lacks real content exaggeration serves as a filler. This is true of the latest press reports of Indian and Chinese patrols clashing on the Pangong lake in Ladakh, implying a linkage with the Dokalam standoff and China opening pressure points elsewhere on our long border with Tibet.Actually, such jostling on the lake waters occurs often and is nothing new. When India plied slower, inferior vessels on the lake and the Chinese were equipped with speedier, more powerful ones, they had the advantage and got the better of us in these jousts, but with India acquiring heavier American-built boats there is more verve on the Indian side in such encounters.This testing of horsepower on the lake will go on, but the important thing is that agreed protocols are being observed and, even if stone pelting has taken place according to unverified reports, no bullets are being fired by either side. This is remarkable as men in uniform are observing discipline and self-restraint even when in direct physical contact with the “enemy”.Not much should be read either into China skipping the ceremonial border meetings on Independence Day and failing to invite the Indian side on August 1 to celebrate the founding of the PLA, as has been the established practice in recent years as part of mutual confidence-building gestures. For one, the Chinese seem to have explained politely at the local level their inability to attend the August 15 ceremonial meeting in view of the present circumstances, leaving the door open for continuing informal friendly contact on the ground.Actually, if the Chinese had invited the Indian side on August 1 and accepted our invitation for August 15, they would have embarrassed themselves politically. With their belligerent rhetoric at the official level, outrageous outpourings of the state-controlled media against India and blinkered analysis of the situation by their reputed India experts, a show of amity and goodwill at the India-Tibet border would have been incongruous, to say the least.